The monthly compensation should be increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh, according to a committee that the speaker of the Odisha legislature appointed to look into MLAs’ requests for pay raises.
The speaker of the Odisha legislature received a proposal from the legislative advisory committee recommending that MLAs get a salary of Rs. 2.5 lakh per month and that the pension for former MLAs be increased to Rs. 1 lakh. The committee’s chairman and senior BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy advised raising the compensation.
MLAs from all parties urged that the salaries be raised during the assembly session due to the rising cost of living.
When we visit our constituencies, we have to spend a lot of money. Therefore, our pay should also be increased in comparison to the pay of MLAs from other states, according to BJD MLA Debiprasad Mishra.
The Odisha government last increased the wages of MLAs and ministers by more than 50% in September 2017, bringing the total to 1 lakh per month, which consists of 35,000 pay and 65,000 in allowances. This does not include travel reimbursement for attending the sessions or the daily allotment of 1,500 during House sessions.
In 2019, 95 of the 147 MLAs elected were crorepatis, up from 20% in the previous parliament, according to an analysis by the NGO Odisha Election Watch.
Prasanta Patnaik