Himachal MLAs get 24% hike in salary, allowances
The Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha today passed three Bills proposing a 24 per cent increase in the salaries and allowances of the Chief Minister, Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and legislators while linking the revision to price index.
The hike, implemented after a gap of nine years, is expected to cost the state exchequer about Rs 24 crore. The pension of former MLAs has been raised too. With the salary revision now being linked to the price index, there will be an automatic hike every five years.
An annual expenditure of about Rs 22 crore is expected to be incurred on the hiked salary and pension of MLAs and former legislators, Rs 2 crore for Cabinet members and Rs 35 lakh for the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
The three Bills that were passed included Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker’s And Deputy Speaker’s Salaries (Amendment) Bill, 2025; HP Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2025; and the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Himachal Pradesh) Amendment Bill, 2025.
Both Congress and BJP legislators welcomed the passing of the Bills by thumping of tables. “The MLAs came to me and narrated their woes. I realised they were getting only Rs 1.6 lakh salary and allowances,” said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The Chief Minister said the Bills had been tabled to “encourage honesty and clean politics”.
Sukhu also said the Rs 20,000 grant that MLAs used to get for telephone bill had been abolished. The subsidy on water and electricity had been withdrawn too, he said. The sumptuary allowances have also been hiked.
