Assam’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka on Wednesday tabled a Bill in the House that seeks to increase the monthly salaries of the Chief Minister, Speaker, Ministers and other legislators of the State.
The Amendment Bill proposes to hike the salary of the Chief Minister from existing Rs 65,000 to Rs 90,000. According to the proposal, the salary of the Speaker of the Assam legislative Assembly will be Rs 80,000 (from existing Rs 60,000) while the Deputy Speaker salary will be Rs 75,000 (from existing Rs 55,000) and that of the leader of Opposition will get Rs 80,000 as his monthly salary (from Rs 60,000).
Cabinet Ministers will get Rs 80,000, while Ministers of State will get Rs 75,000. The Bill proposes to hike the salary of MlAs to Rs 60,000 from existing Rs 40,000. Apart from restructuring the basic salary, the Bill also proposed raising allowances for both present and former MlAs. These allowances will be applicable to the CM, speaker, Deputy Speaker and all Ministers.
Accordingly, the monthly conveyance allowance will be raised from Rs 8,084 to Rs 11,600, daily allowance from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 (within the State) and from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 (for official duty outside the State). The committee also proposed hiking their official travel allowance (own car or private vehicle) from Rs 8 per litre to Rs 16 per litre.
The annual travel assistance is set to be raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 lakh for sitting MlAs and from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 for former members. The monthly medical allowance for ex-MlAs will be hiked from Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000. Besides these, a member of the state assembly will continue to have the option of availing a soft loan, up to Rs 15 lakh, to purchase land, a house or a car. He will also be entitled to pension at 6 per cent interest per annum.
The restructuring of the salaries of the politicos is likely to burden the State Exchequer with additional Rs 9.98 crore annually. Former Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, urged the Government not to introduce the Bill on Wednesday as tension is prevailing along the Assam-Nagaland border and it is not right time to increase the salaries.
