The Delhi Assembly on Monday passed five Bills to increase the salaries and allowances of Ministers, MLAs, and others by 66.67 per cent. The proposal will now be sent to the President and once it is approved, the salaries of the legislators and others will increase from Rs 54,000 to Rs 90,000, including all allowances.
The basic pay of the MLAs and Ministers will now increase from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 and allowances like travelling, telephone bills and others will go up to Rs 90,000.
About five different Bills were tabled on the first day of the two-day Delhi Assembly session to increase the salaries of the Chief Minister, MLAs, Chief Whip, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and the Leader of Opposition. The Bills were passed after three hours of debate and discussion by the members of the Legislative Assembly. The decision to increase the salary was backed by all members, including the Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. "Today, @DelhiAssembly passed five Bills to increase the salary & allowances of Ministers, MLAs, Chief Whip, Speaker & Dy. Speaker and Leader of Opposition after 11 long years since the last increase.
These Bills will come into force after approval of President of India," Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot said in a tweet. During the debate, the members stressed that salaries should be commensurate with rising prices and work done by the Legislators.
The Assembly members also said that the Legislators in Delhi are the lowest paid in the entire country. The Bill was also backed by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, AAP Legislator and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) vice-chairman Saurabh Bhardwaj and others.
Speaking on the Bill, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “The proposal is to increase the basic salary of the members from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000. The success of any institution depends on talent and their salary is an integral part of this talent. We get our salaries from the taxpayers, so we should thank the public for the increment in the salaries from Rs 54,000 to Rs 90,000.” BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri also supported the pay hike.
Earlier, the Delhi Assembly also condoled and paid tributes to those who died in several incidents. The Assembly condoled the brutal beheading of a tailor in Udaipur and the victims of the Mundka fire, the Manipur landslide and a bus accident in Himachal Pradesh. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel extended condolences to the families of those killed in the Mundka fire and the Manipur landslide.
The BJP MLAs staged a walk out during debate Special Mention under Rule 280 following a furore over alleged closure of schools by the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation.
During special mention under Rule 280, the Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri raised the issue of closure of Delhi Government schools in the Assembly.
Even after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's reply, the BJP Legislators continued their protest.
Later, the Speaker ordered the marshalling out of BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht from the Assembly. The other BJP MLAs walked out in protest.