 "Delhi MLAs to get Rs 90,000 per month salary, allowances soon: AAP")
Delhi MLAs will soon draw Rs 90,000 per month as salary and allowances with the central government approving the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation's proposal for a pay hike from the current Rs 54,000, the AAP said on Friday.
The Centre's approval to the Delhi government's proposal came after about seven years, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
The MLAs will get the revised salary and allowances only after the matter gets the nod of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and a notification is issued by the government, he said.
"This will be placed before the Delhi Assembly," he told a press conference at the party headquarters.
The proposal was pending before the Centre for seven years, he added.
"The Delhi MLAs have been getting the lowest salary in the country," the AAP leader said.
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At present, he said, the MLAs in Delhi get altogether Rs 54,000 per month -- Rs 12,000 as salary and the remaining as various allowances.
"After the revision, the monthly salary will be Rs 30,000. Along with the allowances, it will be Rs 90,000 per month," he said.
After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed its government in 2015, it brought a bill in the Assembly to raise the salary of the legislators. The bill was later sent to the Centre after it was passed by the assembly.
In August last year, the Arvind Kejriwal government approved a proposal to increase the salary and allowances of the MLAs by 66 per cent as suggested by the Centre, but expressed discontent that they were still among the lowest-paid legislators in the country.
The proposal to increase the existing monthly salary and allowances of the legislator from a total of Rs 54,000 to Rs 90,000 was approved by the Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Kejriwal.
The Kejriwal government had requested the Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) that the salary and allowances of Delhi MLAs should be at par with those from other states.
The salary and allowances of Delhi MLAs were last revised in 2011.