August 20, 2010 · Filed under 000/-, Cabinet approves bill to hike MPs' basic salary to Rs 50, they want more salary; force adjournments in Lok Sabha
Salaries of MPs will be hiked by more than three times with the Union Cabinet today approving a bill over which differences among ministers had surfaced earlier this week.
A meeting of the Cabinet gave its nod to the bill under which the basic salary of the MPs will be hiked from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 per month.
However, this is much less than the figure of Rs 80,001 recommended by the parliamentary committee which had said the MPs should get more than government secretaries as the former are above them in the hierarchy.
The Cabinet also approved increase in office expenses of parliamentarians from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month. The constituency allowance has also been doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month, government sources said.
Govt today faced protests in the LS, hours after it decided to raise MPs’ salary to Rs 50,000 with several non-BJP opposition members storming the well demanding that it be raised to Rs 80,001. "Stop the insult of MPs" and "implement report of the parliamentary committee" were slogans chanted by MPs forcing Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the LS twice.
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