Gujarat Assembly Increases MLAs' Salary By About 64%, Members to Get Rs 1.16 Lakh Monthly

Gandhinagar: Cutting across party lines, the Gujarat legislators on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill in the State Assembly proposing to hike their salaries by at least Rs 45,000 a month with retrospective effect from February this year. Accordingly, the monthly salary of the MLAs will be increased to Rs 1.16 lakh from the existing Rs 70,727, a rise of about 64 per cent, while those of the Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Leader of Opposition will go up to Rs 1.32 lakh from Rs 86,000, an increase of about 54 percent. The revised salaries come into retrospective effect from February with a disbursal of Rs 6 crore in arrears. The new remuneration structure will put an extra burden of Rs 10 crore annually on the state exchequer. Minister of State for Home and Parliamentary Affairs Pradeepsinh Jadeja, who introduced the Bill in the House, justified the hike. (IANS)