Soon MLAs, ministers, speaker may get salary hike

Shimla: Four bills, seeking a hike in salaries and allowances of MLAs, Ministers, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Parliamentary Secretary and parliamentary secretaries were introduced in Himachal Pradesh assembly today. The bills, placed by Chief Minister P K Dhumal, proposes an increase of over Rs 21,000 per month in the emoluments of MLAs, which include hike in salary and constituency allowance of members from Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 to Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000 per month respectively, water and electricity charges from Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 and traveling allowance from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per day. [caption id=“attachment_267727” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“AFP”]  [/caption] The minimum pension of ex-MLAs would be raised from Rs 14,000 to Rs 18,000 per month. The hikes would entail an expenditure of Rs 3.30 crore per annum. The salary of Chief Minister would be increased by Rs 5,000 from Rs 34,000 to Rs 39,000, of Ministers from Rs 31,000 to Rs 36,000, of ministers of state from Rs 28,000 to Rs 33,000, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries from Rs 18,000 to Rs 23,000 and Parliamentary Secretary from Rs 17,000 to Rs 22,000 per month. Salaries of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker would also be increased from Rs 31,000 and Rs 28,000 to Rs 36,000 and Rs 33,000 per month respectively. The Bills are likely to be passed tomorrow. Introducing the bills, the chief minister attributed the propose increase to sharp rise in cost of living. PTI