Bhubaneswar: MLAs cutting across party lines demanded a hike in their salary and increased pension for former legislators keeping in view the rising costs of essential items and healthcare expenses. Some Demands have been raised in the Assembly to increase the salaries of MLAs and pensions of former MLAs in the Assembly on Tuesday some legislators also demanded that the health insurance of journalists should also be increased.
All the members demanded that the MLA allowance be increased from the present Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore and their salaries is hiked to Rs 2.5 per month. At the same time, they said that the pension of the former members of the Odisha Assembly be increased to Rs 70,000 per month.
BJD leader Pramila Malik said that the pension of former MLAs should be increased as they can hardly afford the prevailing market prices and their health expenses. “A committee was formed for this earlier. Odisha is ranked 27th in the country in terms of salary of MLAs. If a new committee is needed, the Speaker should form a new committee and increase the salary and pension of the present and former legislators respectively. The committee had r recommended that the salary of MLAs should be increased to Rs 2.5 lakh and the pension of former MLAs should be increased to Rs 70,000,” she said.
The Deputy Chief of Opposition, Pratap Deb, said that the MLA Development Fund is Rs 3 crore but it is not enough. The MLA allowance should be increased to Rs 5 crore.”
Similarly, Congress MLA leader Ramachandra Kadam said that the MLA Development Fund should be increased along with the salary of MLAs and pension of former MLAs.
Congress MLA Tara Bahinipati said that people in the constituency have numerous demands for various developmental works. It is not possible to meet these demands and hence the MLA allowance should be increased to Rs 5 crore. “The health insurance of journalists should also be increased to Rs 20 lakh,” he added.
BJP MLA Bhaskar Madhei supported these demands. Instead of forming a new committee, steps should be taken as per the recommendations of the old committee, he said. Similarly, BJP MLA Sanatan Bijuli said that the salary of MLAs is very low considering their expenses. Therefore, as per the committee’s recommendation, the salaries of MLAs and pensions of former MLAs should be increased.
Speaking on the issue, Speaker Surma Padhi said, “It seems that everyone is in agreement with the demands raised by the MLAs. Therefore, the demand for increase in salaries of MLAs, pensions of former MLAs and MLA allowance is the need of the hour. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister should present this issue to the state government and I will also inform the Chief Minister.”
