Utkala Bikash Yuba Parishad president and Netaji Subhas Birth Soil Yatra convenor Debiprasad Prusti has urged Odisha MlAs to follow MP Varun Gandhi, who recently opposed a hike in legislators’ salaries in the interest of poor people.
“Varun Gandhi strongly criticised the proposal of MPs’ salary hike in the lok Sabha on Tuesday. He said while 18,000 farmers have committed suicide during the last year, it is unethical and unjust to raise salary of people’s representatives,” Prusti said quoting Gandhi
Gandhi further stated that while MPs in England have got their salary hiked by 13 per cent during the last decade, Indian MP’s salary hiked by 400 per cent during the period, Prusti said. “Now the Odisha Government is actively considering to hike the salary of MlAs from Rs 55,000 to Rs 1.30 lakh. When Odisha is passing through serious financial crises and tribals, Dalits, farmers, poor people, including destitute women and children, are not getting food two times a day, it will be a mockery to their starvation and poverty if salary of MlAs are hiked,” pointed out Prusti.
He appealed to the MlAs, who often quote the speeches of Santhakabi Bhima Bhoi, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Dash and Netaji Subhas Bose on sacrifice and service, should oppose the salary hike and ask the State Government not to proceed in this regard.