Move to raise MPs' salaries

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 4. A move has been made to raise MPs' salaries from Rs. 4,000 a month to Rs. 11,900 a month in keeping with the recommendations of the K.P. Singh Deo committee.

The constituency allowance for MPs is expected to be raised by Rs. 2000 and secretarial assistance by Rs. 4,000 a month.

The Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, today called an informal meeting of party leaders to discuss the committee's recommendations and there was unanimity on nearly trebling MPs' salaries while fixing these for the next five years. The salaries and allowances were last raised in 1998. Among those who attended the meeting were Mr. Pramod Mahajan, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Priyaranjan Das Munshi (Congress), Mr. Hannan Mollah (CPM), Mr. Yerran Naidu (TDP), and Mr. Akhilesh Singh (Samajwadi Party).

Going through the panel report clause by clause, the meeting agreed with the recommendations to raise the monthly salary. Additional free telephone calls equivalent to 20,000 local calls per year are expected to be allowed to MPs whose constituency home town is more than 1000 km away from the capital on the plea that STD calls are that much more expensive. They are already entitled to the equivalent of 1,00,000 free local calls plus 50,000 local calls for internet connectivity every year.

The informal decision will be forward by Mr. Mahajan, who will have to discuss the matter with the Finance Minister and get a bill drafted by the Law Minister before it is approved by Parliament. The issue may come up before the Cabinet tomorrow as Mr. Mahajan has promised to get back in a couple of days to the ``informal committee'' which met today. At any stage some modifications may be made.

Apparently, the committee has justified the increase after taking into the account the value of the rupee as against its value in 1952 when MPs drew a salary of Rs. 400 a month. It was felt that the increase in the cost of living more than justifies the increase suggested.

Each MP now gets a constituency allowance of Rs. 8,000 a month for money spent by him on tea, biscuits and other miscellaneous items when receiving people from his constituencies. It was suggested that this be raised by Rs. 2,000 a month, although the panel had not suggested any change. However, in the case of some other allowances the meeting agreed with the committee - the daily allowance to MPs for attending the session should go up from Rs. 400 to Rs. 500, reimbursement of expenses of stationary should be increased from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,000 a month, and secretarial assistance should go up from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 10,000 a month.

Besides, transport costs for travel to and from railway stations or airports when travelling from the capital to the constituencies and back is to be increased from Rs 6. per km to Rs. 8 per km in view of increase in taxi tariffs.

No change has been recommended for medical expense allowance and pension though the Government is free to enhance these. Currently an MP who completes a minimum tenure of four years is entitled to a pension of Rs. 2,500 a month with an additional Rs. 500 for each extra year completed as an MP. Thus, an MP who has completed two five year tenures will be entitled to Rs. 5,500 a month as pension.

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Section  : National
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