BJP offers sops to voters in Bihar ahead of council polls

Apparently sensing that the outcome of legislative council polls on July 7 may set the tone for the Assembly polls in Bihar later this year, the BJP today rained sops, including hikes in various allowances to representatives of three-tier panchayati raj institutions.
The NDA in the event of being elected to power in the Assembly polls will double monthly allowance for the ward members of gram panchayat to Rs 1000 from Rs 500 announced by the incumbent JD(U) government, former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement.
In addition, the ward members will be entitled to a bicycle each and a handpump will be installed on their recommendation in the villages, he said.

The monthly allowance for the ward members of the urban civil bodies too will be doubled from the amount announced by the present government, Modi said.
In an allurement to mukhiyas, the senior BJP leader said the NDA government would raise their monthly allowance to Rs 4000 from Rs 2500 proposed by the JD(U) government, while the deputy mukhiyas monthly allowance will be raised to Rs 2000 from Rs 1200.
The monthly allowance of pramukhs too will be hiked to Rs 12,000 against Rs 10,000 proposed by the state government, while the deputies of pramukhs called as 'up-pramukh' will get Rs 6000 against Rs 5000 proposed by the incumbent government, the former deputy chief minister said.

The zila parishad chairpersons' monthly allowance will be hiked to Rs 16,000 against Rs 12,000 proposed by the state government and the deputy chairpersons of zila parishad will get Rs 12,000 from Rs 10,000 announced by the incumbent government, he said.
Representatives of urban civil bodies will get 25 per cent more allowances than what has been proposed by the state government, while panchayat samiti members will get Rs 2000 monthly allowance as against Rs 1000 proposed by the state government, Modi said.
Modi further announced that the members of zila panchayats would be given monthly allowance of Rs 5000 against Rs 2500 proposed by the state government, besides the NDA government will appoint a panchayat secretary, deputy secretary, accountant and an IT professional to assist the elected panchyat representatives in discharging their duties.