Big hike in state legislators’ pay

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha was on Thursday adjourned sine die after passing the state’s annual budget for 2015-2016 and approving without opposition a substantial hike in salary and other emoluments of the legislators.

After the hike, the total earnings of legislators went from nearly Rs. 60,000 to nearly Rs. 1 lakh per month.

As the demand to increase the emoluments of legislators and former legislators has been made time and again, the Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed the Uttar Pradesh Legislature Members’ Emoluments and Pension) (Amendment) Bill 2015 to give effect to the increase that chief minister announced minutes before the adjournment of the House.

As per the provisions of the bill, the members would now get a basic salary of Rs. 10,000 per month against the existing Rs. 8,000 per month. The constituency allowance for the members has been increased from Rs. 22,000 per month to Rs. 30,000 per month while the secretary allowance goes up from Rs. 10,000 per month to Rs. 15,000 per month.

Similarly, the medical allowance has been increased from Rs. 10,000 per month to Rs. 20,000 per month.

Daily allowance during the session has been increased from Rs. 750 per month to Rs. 800 per month.

Daily public service allowance (paid when the House is not in session) has been doubled from Rs. 400 per month to Rs. 800 per month.

Besides the hike in the salary and emoluments, the railway coupons given to the legislators have also been increased from Rs. 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs. 3.25 lakh per annum. The members may now be able to get a reimbursement of Rs. 18,000 per month (against Rs. 10,000 per month) for vehicle fuel (petrol/diesel) from within the limit of the railway coupon/air ticket entitlement. An increase has also been made in pension, family pension and railway coupons given to former legislators.

Basic pension has been increased from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 per month for those who have a term of one day to one year as legislator.

For every additional year of term as legislator, the annual hike has been increased from Rs. 700 to Rs. 1,000. For former members the entitlement limit of rail coupons has been increased from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 80,000 per annum.

Significantly, the hike in emoluments has been made amidst reports placing more than 50% of the legislators in the list of crorepatis.

Although the legislators have been demanding a hike in the emoluments ever since the installation of the Samajwadi Party government in 2012, Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur said the legislators should be paid more than the state’s chief secretary.

Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Dalvir Singh was among those who thanked chief minister for agreeing to the legislators’ demand.