Following objections raised by the Haryana legislators a day before related to their salary increase, the state legislators got a hefty hike in salary and allowances as they unanimously passed a Bill in this regard on Wednesday.
The monthly salary and allowances of a state legislator will jump to around Rs 1.5 lakh.
According to the Bill, keeping in view the rise in cost of living, it was proposed to increase salary of MlAs from Rs 30,000 per month to Rs 40,000 per month.
Constituency allowance will be doubled from Rs 30,000 to Rs 60,000 per month, office allowance from Rs 10,000 per month will now be Rs 25,000, sumptuary allowance will double from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000.
Daily allowance will go up from Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 for a maximum of 15 days in a month while free travelling facility at the rate of Rs 2 lakh per year will now be Rs 3 lakh per year.
Telephone allowance at the rate of Rs 15,000 per month for a telephone at residence is being substituted to a telephone and a mobile phone for residence.
The proposed increase in salary, constituency allowance and office allowance etc will entail an extra expenditure of approximately over Rs 9 crore per year from the State exchequer, the State Assembly was informed.
The Haryana legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, was passed on the last day of the State Assembly's monsoon session.
A day before the Bill was deferred to evolve a consensus on the matter, as certain MlAs had expressed displeasure over meager increase in their salaries. Following this, the State Government on Wednesday tabled a fresh copy of Bill further increasing constituency allowance and office allowance.
On Wednesday, after the Bill was tabled, BSP's Tek Chand Sharma had said that though in protocol the MlAs were above the state chief secretary, yet the salary hike proposed in the Bill had disappointed the elected representatives.
Meanwhile, the Assembly also passed four more Bills, Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (Second Amendment) Bill 2016, Haryana Motor Vehicles Taxation Bill 2016, University of Health Sciences, Karnal Bill,2016 and the Haryana Tax on luxuries (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
The University of Health Sciences, Karnal Bill, 2016 was passed to establish and incorporate a University of Health Sciences at Karnal for the purposes of teaching and affiliating, ensuring proper and systematic instruction, training and research in modern systems of medicine and Indian systems of medicine and administration of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal.
The Haryana Vidhan Sabha was then adjourned sine die after passing the bills.
Privelege Committee formed
Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Kanwar Pal has nominated ten members to serve on the Committee of Privileges of State Assembly. MlA Ghanshyam Dass would be the Chairperson of the committee. The other members included MlAs Krishan Hooda, Parminder Singh Dhull, Dinesh Kaushik, Jaiveer Singh, Umesh Aggarwal, Mool Chand Sharma, Pawan Saini, Ravinder Baliala and Tek Chand Sharma.
Rs 22,60,950 collected as fine
Following prohibition on manufacture, storage, distribution or sale of tobacco in Haryana, 6636 public places were raided, 2,778 public services vehicles were raided, and 19,889 persons were challaned at public places during 2009 to July 2016. Besides, 11,147 vendors were fined and total of Rs 22,60,950 were collected as fine, informed Health Minister Anil Jain.