Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday hinted at a hike of the legislators’ pay structure in tune with the increased cost of living. The CM has asked TS Legislature secretary Raja Sadaram to work out the modalities before finalising the proposal by the Amenities Committee of the Legislature that comprises all party leaders, headed by Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary.
Presently, each MLA and MLC gets about Rs 12,000 as monthly salary and Rs 83,000 towards allowances like constituency and vehicle expenses. Besides this, each legislator is entitled to rent-free accommodation at the MLA’s hostel. If he or she prefers to stay elsewhere, Rs 25,000 is paid as accommodation allowance. During Tuesday’s discussions, Mr Rao opined that apart from ministers, Speaker, Council Chairman, Dy Speaker, Deputy Chairman, Government Whips and Leaders of the Opposition, who are at present being paid Rs 2,35,000 (including allowances), the salary structure of legislators means about Rs 14.94 crore expenditure on the exchequer, which is just 0.001 per cent of the annual Budget of over Rs 1,15,000 crore.
The CM felt that the present salary of Rs 95,000 is not sufficient for the legislators as they need to work on both political and non-political assignments, take up extensive tours in their constituency, district and the state capital, some assistance to people in their constituencies, bear expenses on PAs, gunmen, drivers etc. Mr Rao felt that the legislators cannot meet such expenses unless their salary is hiked to Rs 3 lakh per month. He asked the Legislature secretary to work out the modalities and also study the pattern of salary structure that exists in other legislatures, including the recent hike of MLAs’ salary by the Delhi government.
