New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) A bill seeking a three-fold hike in MPs’ salaries from Rs.16,000 to Rs.50,000 and doubling some of their allowances was introduced in the Lok Sabha Wednesday without any opposition from the members who had demanded a 500 percent increase in their monthly emoluments.
The legislation seeks to double the daily allowance of Rs.1,000 of an MP for each day when parliament is in session or for taking part in house committee meetings.
Besides, constituency allowance of Rs.20,000 a month and an office expense allowance of Rs.20,000 each month have also been raised to Rs.45,000 each.
MPs’ conveyance allowance, according to the bill, will now be Rs.4 lakh from Rs.1 lakh earlier.
The bill seeking amendments to the Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, will now be tabled in the Rajya Sabha before the hike is actually implemented.
The increase will be given with retrospective effect since the beginning of the current Lok Sabha, the 15th, which means MPs will get arrears from May 2009.
The bill was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal even as the day’s business list did not mention the introduction of the legislation.
A parliamentary panel headed by Congress member Charandas Mahant had recommended a 500 percent hike in salary from Rs.16,000 to Rs.80,001 – a rupee more than the salary of top bureaucrats.
However, the government rejected the demand of a five-fold increase, inviting severe opposition from a section of MPs led by Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Following the protests, the government, budging a little, decided to hike the non-taxable allowances of parliamentarians.
The provision for raising salary, daily allowance and minimum and additional pension would involve a recurring annual expenditure of Rs.103.76 crore. One time expenditure of Rs.118 crore would be incurred on account of arrears of salary and pensions from May last year to July this year.
