Assam proposes raising lawmakers' salaries by up to 50 pc

The Assam government today proposed hiking the salaries of all elected representatives, including the Chief Minister and the Assembly Speaker, by up to 50 per cent with effect from April 1.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary introduced three Bills in the Assam Assembly in this regard.

According to the Bill for raising the emoluments of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, their salaries will be raised to Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh per month from the existing Rs 80,000 and Rs 75,000 -- an increase of 50 per cent and 33.33 per cent, respectively.

Besides the salary component, both will get Rs 30,000 as parliamentary assistance and sumptuary allowances, it added.

The chief minister's salary will go up to Rs 1.3 lakh from Rs 90,000 at present, while his allowances for the two abovementioned categories will become Rs 34,000 as against Rs 17,000, a jump of 53.23 per cent in the total takeaway at Rs 1.64 lakh every month.

For the cabinet ministers and the Leader of the Opposition, the salary has been proposed to be raised to Rs 1.1 lakh from Rs 80,000 at present, while the allowances have been doubled to Rs 30,000 from Rs 15,000.

After the passage of the Bill, a Minister of State will get a salary of Rs 1 lakh as compared to the existing Rs 75,000, while also drawing an additional Rs 28,000 as parliamentary assistance and sumptuary allowances as against Rs 14,000 a month.

A deputy minister's salary will become Rs 95,000 in place of Rs 70,000 and the allowances will increase to Rs 26,000 from Rs 13,000, the Bill said.

Patowary also proposed hiking the salaries of all MLAs in a separate Bill to Rs 80,000 from the existing Rs 60,000 a month, while doubling allowances for constituency, camp office and secretariat to Rs 40,000.

In addition to the abovementioned emoluments, all of them will get other allowances under various categories like Assembly sitting and travel among others, besides getting other non-cash benefits.

For an ex-MLA, the government has proposed a pension of Rs 40,000 per month as compared to Rs 30,000 along with a hike in medical allowances from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000, the Bill mentioned.

Besides, the Bill also said: "Widow/widower of any ex-member shall be paid family pension at the rate of 50 per cent of the pension amount drawn by the ex-Member and shall also be paid medical allowance at the rate of Rs 20,000 per mensum."