MlAs belonging to Opposition parties Congress and BJP and the ruling BJD were united in the State Assembly on Tuesday in demanding increases in their salary and former MlAs’ pension.
The demand was so vociferously placed that the House witnessed two adjournments for 20 minutes.
Opposition Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Congress) raising the issue during the Zero Hour said the pension and salary availed to former and incumbent MlAs, respectively, are so meagre that a former MlA stood pledged to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar as he could not pay his treatment dues.
Bahinipati said that while price of everything is on the rise, salary and allowances of all others have been hiked. “The Government should seriously consider our demand,” he said and sought a ruling on the matter from the Speaker.
Congress MlA Naba Kishore Das too made the same demand while BJP legilsature Party leader KV Singh Deo supported it.
Joining them, BJD MlA Amar Prasad Satpathy said, “The salaries of judges have been increased 200 times. MlAs’ salary and former MlAs’ pension need to be increased,” he said.
BJP MlA Dr Bibhuti Bhushan Harichandan and BJD member Dr Nrusingha Sahu too voiced the demand. “The salary of an MlA should be increased from the present `16,000 to `40,000 and the pension of a former MlA should be increased from `15,000 to `30,000,” demanded Sahu.
BJD’s Mahesh Sahoo and Congress’ Dr Prafulla Majhi demanded that the salary and pension be increased by five times.
As Speaker Niranjan Pujari didn’t pay any heed to the demand, Congress members rushed into the Well of the House and shouted slogans. Unable to run the House, the Speaker adjourned the House twice, 10 minutes each time, from 12.08 pm to 12.18 and then to 12.28 pm.