MPs not happy with 300 percent hike, want more

Salaries of Members of Parliament will be hiked by more than three times with the Union Cabinet on Friday 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 MPs should get more than government secretaries as the former are above them in the hierarchy.

The Cabinet also approved an increase in the office expense 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.

The limit for interest-free loan for MPs for buying a personal vehicle has been hiked four-fold to Rs 4 lakh from the present Rs 1 lakh. The government also approved a hike in road mileage rate for vehicles used by MPs from Rs 13 per km to Rs 16 per km. The spouse of a parliamentarian can now travel any number of times in first class or executive class, the sources said.

Pension benefits have also been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. Earlier this week, the Cabinet had deferred a decision on it in view of a lack of consensus.

The dissenting ministers had referred to the farmers' suicide and allegations of corruption in Commonwealth Games while making the point that hiking the salaries of MPs at the moment would be seen in a bad light by the public.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal members forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha for an hour, voicing dissatisfaction over the quantum of salary hike for MPs.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad claimed that the government had insulted Parliament by rejecting the recommendation of its committee to raise the basic salary to Rs 80,001 per month.

"The government decision is an insult of Parliament. The bill should be torn to pieces," Prasad said in the Lok Sabha.

SP members, led by Yadav, backed Prasad and trooped to the well, demanding that the MPs' Salary Bill be taken back. Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the proceedings till noon.