Demand in Rajya Sabha for a hike in MPs' salaries, allowances

NEW DELHI: A demand for raising wages and allowances of MPs was made in the Rajya Sabha today with members demanding that their salaries should be higher than the revised scale of the Cabinet Secretary.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) said after the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, wages of MPs was less than a PA in the government.

It is less than the salary a legislator in Delhi Assembly gets. It is not even half of the revised salary of Maharashtra legislators and one-third of those in Telengana, he said.

Yadav said while inflation has soared, the salaries of MPs, who also have to entertain a lot of public visitors, has remained static.

Last month too, SP had raised the demand for early implementation of the recommendations of a Parliamentary Committee headed by Yogi Adityanath on wages and allowances of MPs.

Yadav said the salary of MPs should be higher than the revised scale of Cabinet Secretary after the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.

Cabinet Secretary draws Rs 2.5 lakh per month salary after the government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for central government employees and pensioners.

The Parliamentary Committee is reported to have recommended doubling the salary and allowances of MPs to Rs 2.8 lakh per month.

Anand Sharma (Cong) said this is the first time that the government is silent on a Parliamentary Committee recommendation that has been discussed and unanimously approved.

"Thousands of crores of rupees are spent on Prime Minister's visits abroad but there is no hike in salaries of MPs," he said.

Hussain Dalwai (Cong) also supported the demand.