Shimla:
Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Friday adjourned sine die after adopting three bills, which provided for 24 per cent hike in salaries and allowances of chief minister, ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and MLAs.
The cost to exchequer is pegged at about Rs 24 crore annually.
The bills also provided for linking the salaries to the Cost Inflation Index for revision after five years, effective from April 1, 2030.
On account of the revision, the MLAs would get an additional increase of over Rs 1 lakh.
Both the Congress and BJP legislators welcomed the passing of the bills by thumping their tables.
The monthly salaries of the MLAs has been raised from Rs 55,000 to Rs 70,000; constituency allowance from Rs 90,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh and office allowance from Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000. The daily allowance would be up from Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000.
The monthly salary of chief minister has been hiked from Rs Rs 95,000 to Rs 1.15 lakh, while salaries of cabinet ministers increased from Rs 80,000 to Rs 95,000. The ministers’ salaries were up from Rs 78,000 to Rs 92,000.
The salaries of Speaker and Deputy Speaker have been revised from Rs 80,000 and Rs 75,000 to Rs 95,000 and Rs 92,000 per month respectively.
The basic pension of first-time MLAs has been increased from Rs 36,000 to Rs 50,000 per month, which would be revised every five year based on the Cost Inflation Index.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the salaries of ministers, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, and salaries and pensions of MLAs have been revised after nine years. The earlier revision was done in 2016.
Reimbursement of telephone bills amounting about Rs 20,000 has been done away with and subsidy on water and electricity to MLAs has also been withdrawn.
The bill mentions that the sumptuary allowance payable to ministers was reduced by 30 per cent for one year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
