Bengaluru: There is a growing demand from a section of legislators of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to ensure a pay scale at par with that of other legislators across the country.
While an MLA in the newly-carved out Telangana state gets around Rs 2.20 lakh month, his Delhi counterpart gets around Rs 2.10 lakh. A legislator in Karnataka draws around Rs 1.40 lakh which according to them is less considering the various demands from people in the constituency.
“We are not seeking a hike we are only requesting the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Mr K.B. Koliwad to get a report on the pay being given to each legislator in each state across the country,” Janata Dal (Secular) MLA B.B. Ningaiah told Deccan Chronicle.
The Karnataka government had hiked the salary of legislators by 40 per cent just a few months ago. Now, there is a demand to increase it by another 25 per cent to take the monthly salary to Rs 1.75 lakh.
When contacted, Mr Koliwad said "As of now, I have not received any letter from any legislator seeking a hike in salary or calling for a report from other states to know the salary being paid to each MLA.”
Mr Ningaiah said though, no formal meeting was held among legislators, the issue came up for discussion among Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs in the lounge of the Assembly. Subsequently, a letter was prepared addressed to the Speaker requesting him to get a report on the salaries of fellow legislators in other states. A few JD(S) legislators were signatories to the letter.
The Rs 1.4 lakh each MLA gets per month, includes Rs 25,000 basic pay, Rs 10,000 for salary of personal assistants, Rs 5,000 for postal charges, Rs 20,000 as telephone expenses, Rs 40,000 towards constituency allowance and Rs 40,000 for touring the constituency.
According to the legislator, people come to them regularly seeking money for marriages, birthdays, funeral expenses, school fees and for other social reasons.
They cannot be sent back empty handed since they are voters of the constituency. Hundreds of Ganesha Mandalis approach legislators asking for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. These are problems that cannot be discussed in public, he said.
Mr Ningaiah who represents Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru district, batted for uniform salary for legislators of all states no matter how big the state is. “Every legislator is a social worker toiling for the betterment of people. We will definitely discuss the issue of uniform salaries for all legislators once the report on salaries of legislators in other states is received,” he said.
