Pay hike for MPs

Members of Parliament are in for a raise. They will get a monthly salary of Rs 50,000 -- substantially higher than Rs 16,000 they get now...

Members of Parliament are in for a raise. They will get a monthly salary of Rs 50,000 — substantially higher than Rs 16,000 they get now,but less than Rs 80,001 proposed by a Joint Parliamentary

Committee.

They will also get Rs 2,000 as allowance,double the current Rs 1,000,for every day that they attend Parliament.

Some other allowances like constituency allowance may also be hiked. The government,however,is not keen to increase perks like air trips and telephone calls.

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The salary hike will be effected through a Bill that is in the final stages of drafting and will be sent to the Cabinet for approval soon. The Bill will be introduced in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Salaries,Allowances and Pensions,headed by Congress MP Charan Das Mahant,had proposed salary of Rs 80,001,arguing that an MP’s salary should be at least a rupee more than that of an officer of the rank of Secretary (Rs 80,000),whom an MP outranks in the list of protocol. But, the government,it seems,didn’t buy this logic.

MPs last got a raise about 10 years ago. CPM had opposed it,saying parliamentarians deciding their own salaries was unethical.