Valley
Lawmakers’ pay and perks set to be hiked
The Parliament Secretariat has initiated the process to increase pay and perks of lawmakers.The Parliament Secretariat has initiated the process to increase pay and perks of lawmakers.
A recommendation submitted to the Secretariat on Sunday by a five-member panel led by Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal has suggested increasing lawmakers’ pay and perks to Rs 88,925 from the existing Rs 56,228. Once the pay is increased based on the recommendation, an additional Rs 235 million will have to be drawn from the state exchequer annually.
As per the recommendation, salary of the lawmakers will be increased to Rs 55,225 from Rs 44,180 in accordance with the 25 percent pay rise proposed by the government in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, while the perks will increased in proportion to the salary. “Though the salary was earlier hiked regularly in accordance with the increment of the salary of civil servants, perks had not been increased since 1995. The recommendation was made to adjust the inflation,” said Yogendra Chaudhary, chief whip of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik, and a member of the recommendation panel. He claimed that the perks were increased in proportion to the salary.
With the increment, a lawmaker will draw Rs 33,700 in perks including Rs 23,700 for house rent and Rs 5,000 for communication among others. At present, each lawmaker gets Rs 12,048 in perks including Rs 6,500 for house rent and Rs 2,300 for communication among others.
The panel has also recommended increasing transportation allowance to Rs 1,000 from Rs 150 and meeting allowance to Rs 1,500 from Rs200. In order to control increasing expenditure on food, the panel has asked to scrap the provision of free meal.
The Parliament Secretariat has been providing free meals to lawmakers when meetings are held in the morning or late in the night. Records show the Secretariat at times has fed as many as 3,700 people including personal assistants, security personnel and the kin of lawmakers, while over 2,000 people enjoy free meal facility on normal days. A plate of meal costs around Rs 700.