Considering the drought situation in the state, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has turned down demand of MLAs to increase residential allowance from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 and the loan limit to buy a vehicle from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. A meeting in this regard scheduled on Thursday at the Assembly was called off in the last moment after Mr Mungantiwar refused to attend it on the same grounds. “The minister had rejected the proposal to give more funds to the MLAs, as the state is facing severe drought. The demands by the MLAs were also not urgent and hence not approved,” an official from the finance department said. The demand was put forth by a committee of MLAs appointed to resolve various issues of the public representatives.
A notice convening the meeting was issued on February 26 to the concerned MLAs. The major issues include increasing residential allowance to Rs 50,000 from Rs 25,000 if they are not allotted another room in the MLA hostels. Another issue was about increasing loan limit to Rs 20 lakh to purchase vehicle for MLAs from the current Rs 10 lakh. Thirdly, allowing personal assistants of MLAs to use railway coupons in the absence of the latter. Fourthly, giving salary hike to the personal assistants of the MLAs, the agenda of the meeting said.
The MLAs remained present for the meeting, however, Mr Mungantiwar did not turn up for it and cancelled the meeting. “The meeting was cancelled at the last moment, but we had already reached Mumbai by then,” one of the MLAs said.
An official from the finance department said that the minister had gone to visit drought areas in Marathwada. “The chief minister has convened a meeting of all ministers on Friday and has asked them to bring a report on the drought situation in the Marathwada region. Mr Mungantiwar was busy with the visit and hence could not attend the meeting scheduled,” the official said.
