Members of Telangana State Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and Council (MLCs) will get a monthly pay hike of Rs 2.25 lakhs (from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh) besides other perks. Pensions of former legislators too will be increased.
The state government will shortly accept the recommendation by the Telangana Legislature Committee on Amenities (to this effect) as the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already responded favourably to the panel’s suggestions.
Members of the committee, who met on Monday under the chairmanship of the speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, also recommended a hike in the legislators’ vehicle loan limit from the present Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 40 lakhs.
Based on the committee’s recommendation, former MLAs and MLCs are likely to get a monthly pension of Rs 65,000. The committee also suggested that should a member of the legislature die, the widow or widower of the member should receive the same amount.
In 2011, MLAs and MLCs from the united Andhra Pradesh assembly got a salary hike from Rs 40,000 to 90,000 per month. Telangana legislators had demanded a salary hike since Telangana was formed in 2014. Recently, the Delhi assembly too had hiked their legislators’ salaries to Rs 4 lakhs.
The committee had also expressed displeasure over the snail’s pace progress in constructing apartments for MLAs and MLCs at a cost of Rs 123 crores in Hyderabad. The construction of the apartments meant to accommodate 120 MLAs and MLCs began two years before. The construction also includes quarters for the legislators’ servants.
