Journalism of Courage
After a long wait,the Centre has finally approved the allowances for elected members of cantonments and fixed the monthly honorarium of members in the range of Rs 2,000-Rs 5,000.
Though the members of cantonments,including three in Pune,have been pressing for the honorarium for the past two years elections to the cantonments in Pune were held in May 2008 the payment fixed for members is being seen as too meagre. This even as all the three cantonments of Pune,Dehu Road and Khadki are class I cantonments and the members are entitled for the highest honorarium.
Dehu Road Cantonment Board spokesman NM Mahajan said,The notification was issued in July and we have sought objections from people on it. They have been told that they can directly file the objections with the director,land and cantonments,Ministry of Defence,New Delhi. We were not paying anything to the members since the board was elected in 2008.
He said the board would take a decision on allowances and later get the money approved from the Southern Command.
We have also written to the Principal Director,Defence Estates,that besides the allowance members should also be paid at least Rs 500 for attending the meetings of the board and its different committees.
However,members have expressed dissatisfaction over the meagre payment fixed for them. This is nothing but insult. This will only discourage literate persons from representing the people on cantonment boards. The honorarium is even less than the salary of a peon, Pune Cantonment Board member Aarti Mahajan said.
Dehu Road Cantonment Board vice-chairman Sanjay Pinjan said,We will accept the allowance that has been fixed by the government and later consult the members of other cantonments to express our displeasure over meagre payments.
