Telangana MLAs want 3-fold pay hike
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, February 10
Taking a cue from Delhi legislators, the lawmakers in Telangana have sought a three-fold hike in their salary and allowances.
The MLAs and MLCs of the country’s newest state want their salaries to be increased to Rs 3 lakh a month from the present Rs 90,000 per month.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao discussed the proposal with Telangana Assembly Secretary Raja Sadaram and other senior officials here. The rising costs of living and expenses, including travelling, serving on committees, fuel, paying personal assistants and telephone charges and family expenses, have been cited as the reasons for demanding a salary hike.
At present, the total expenditure being incurred towards salaries and perks to the legislators is Rs 15 crore per year, which is a mere 0.001 per cent of the Rs 1.15 lakh crore state Budget. There are 119 MLAs and 40 MLCs in Telangana.
The Chief Minister was informed that the legislators were facing financial burden due to regular visits to villages in their respective constituencies, pleas from the poor for financial assistance, maintenance of their staff.
The officials said it was estimated that at least Rs 3 lakh monthly salary to each MLA or MLC would be required to address their needs.
“The matter was discussed by the Chief Minister's office against the backdrop of increase in pay for lawmakers in several states,” an official release said.
The recent proposal to increase the salaries of MLAs to Rs 4 lakh by the Delhi Government was also discussed at the meeting. The Delhi Assembly had last year approved a four-fold hike in salary and allowances for its members, making it the highest in the country.
Justifying the proposal, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP, Jithender Reddy, said: “We were deprived of our comforts for 60 years, and now we have our own state. We want to give proper salary to our elected representatives so that no one turns to corruption.”
