The Himachal Pradesh assembly on Friday passed three amendment bills to enable a sharp increase in the allowances of legislators, ministers and former legislators.
The proposed hike would put an additional annual burden of approximately Rs.3.5 crore on the state exchequer.
The amendment bills were introduced by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and passed within a few minutes with a voice vote and without discussion by the treasury and opposition benches.
The fund-starved government is reeling under a debt of Rs.33,884 crore till March 2014, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
As per the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pensions of members) Amendment Bill of 2015, the daily allowance of members of the assembly has been increased from Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,500.
Likewise, the limit for reimbursement of expenses incurred on free travel facility has been increased from Rs.75,000 to Rs.200,000. Also each member would be entitled to an allowance of Rs.12,000 per month to engage a computer operator.
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For ex-members of the assembly, the limit for reimbursement of expenses incurred on free travel facility would be Rs.100,000 instead of the railway tariff of 20,000 km per annum.
For the ministers, the speaker and the deputy speaker, the limit for reimbursement of expenses incurred on free travel facility would be Rs.200,000 instead of the railway tariff of 100,000 km.
The chief minister said due to the sharp increase in the cost of living the members of the assembly have to incur a lot of expenditure on their day-to-day activities.