MLAs give themselves a 90 per cent pay hike in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: On the last day of the assembly session, MLAs in Tamil Nadu gave themselves a bonanza -a 90% hike in their salaries and allowances. The salaries and allowances of 234 MLAs (including the speaker) will increase from Rs 55,000 per month to Rs 1,05,000. An MLA's salary itself has been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 30,000; other allowances have also increased considerably.

After every financial allocation is announced, it is routine for the government to mention the extra burden to the exchequer due to the hike, but chief minister K Palaniswami, who read out the statement in the assembly, did not say what the total burden was on the already stressed finances of the government. He announced the hike after he merely mentioned the names of MLAs who demanded a hike.

A rough calculation shows the total burden on the government will go up from Rs 1.28 crore to Rs 2.45 crore a month. The MLAs also received a hike in the MLA Constituency Development Fund from Rs 2 crore a year to Rs 2.5 crore.

Among the allowances the MLAs are entitled to, the constituency allowance got the highest increase -from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 a month. The CM also increased his own allowance as well as those of his cabinet colleagues. "Allowances of the CM, the ministers, the speaker, the deputy speaker, the leader of the Opposition and chief whip of the government will also be increased. Former MLAs will get Rs 20,000 as pension -double from the present amount -and families of former MLAs will get Rs 10,000 as family pension," said Palaniswami.

SP and Cong MPs seek pay revision on the lines of Seventh Pay Commission

Samajwadi Party and Congress raised the issue of hiking the pay and allowances for MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday as they claimed even the allowances of MLAs is much more. They even demanded that their pay and allowances should be revised on the lines of Seventh Pay Commission. The issues was raised by SP leader Naresh Agarwal, which senior Congress leader Anand Sharma also supported. "We have demanded what we deserve under Seventh Pay Commission and it has been due for long. Even MLAs in states and government secretaries are paid more than us," he said.