Following widespread criticism of the substantial pay hike granted to 288 members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), 78 members of Legislative Council (MLCs), and 39 ministers, four MLCs elected from
Following widespread criticism of the substantial pay hike granted to 288 members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), 78 members of Legislative Council (MLCs), and 39 ministers, four MLCs elected from teachers’ constituencies and the minister of state for home (urban), Dr Ranjeet Patil, have turned down the raise.
The four MLCs who have refused to accept the hike — Shrikant Deshpande (Amravati Teachers), Ramnath Mote (Konkan Teachers), Lokbharti MLC Kapil Patil, representing the Mumbai Teachers constituency, and Mr Nagoganar — have cited the poor financial condition of teachers from unaided schools as the reason.
Mr Deshpande and Mr Mote argued that teachers from approved unaided schools have been working without government grants for the past 15 years and, hence, their conscience does not permit them to accept the salary hike.
Mr Deshpande in his letter stated that on the last day of the just-concluded monsoon session on August 5, the motion for pay hike was adopted without any discussion. He said that neither had members demanded it nor had they sought appointment with the government over the issue. He added that he had been fighting for the cause of these teachers for the past two years.
Mr Mote, on the other hand, stated that the government, after evaluating unaided schools and classrooms, through a Cabinet decision, had announced a Rs 162.25 lakh grant. However, instead of implementing this decision before the upcoming Ganpati festival in September, the government had come out with this pay hike. He even announced that he would boycott Teachers’ Day celebrations on September 5.
The government on August 5 hiked the pay packets of members and ministers to amounts ranging between Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 1.50 lakh. Sources said that members earlier drew a salary of Rs 75,000 while ministers took home a pay of Rs 67,000. Former members got a Rs 50,000 pension. The argument in favour of the pay hike was that there had been no hike since 2010.
