The last day of the monsoon session of the legislature saw both Houses unanimously passing a bill hiking the salaries of MLAs, ministers and retired MLAs.
The last day of the monsoon session of the legislature saw both Houses unanimously passing a bill hiking the salaries of MLAs, ministers and retired MLAs. Even personal assistants of MLAs got a salary raise, apart from MLAs being granted a certain amount for the appointment of a telephone operator.
Speaking to the media, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the hike saying it was necessary for these elected members to perform their duties. “The hike is necessary to keep MLAs working to their fullest potential,” he said. However, he did not reveal how much of a burden the salary hike would inflict on the state exchequer.
As per the bill passed at the last moment, Cabinet ministers would get salaries equivalent to those of the chief secretary, ministers of state would get salaries equivalent to those of the additional chief secretary, while MLAs would get salaries equivalent to those of the principal secretary. Accordingly, ministers’ salaries would be around Rs 1.8 to Rs 2 lakh per month, that of state ministers would be Rs 1.8 lakh per month whereas for MLAs, it would be around Rs 1.5 lakh. Meanwhile, the bill also doubles the salaries of MLSs.
Also, retired MLAs would get a pension of Rs 50,000 per month, Rs 10,000 more than what they were previously getting. The salaries of PAs of MLAs would be Rs 25,000, up from the earlier Rs 15,000. MLAs would be given an additional Rs 10,000 to appoint a telephone operator, according to the bill.
Leader of the Opposition in the council Dhananjay Munde supported the salary hike and said that it was still low as compared to MLAs in other states.
