Though they cannot compete with their neighbour on riches half of Haryanas 90 legislators are millionaires Punjab MLAs will now at least get fatter pay packets. The Punjab Cabinet on Thursday approved proposals of the General Purposes Committee of the Assembly for a nearly 2.5 fold hike in salary besides higher allowances for the MLAs. The Bill for amending the relevant Act will be presented during the coming Assembly session starting December 7. The committee has brought almost all allowances on par with those enjoyed by Haryana legislators. This while also taking the monthly salary of each MLA to Rs 10,000 from Rs 4,000. The Haryana MLAs take home no salary but have the countrys best allowances scale about Rs 1,000 per day. Like those in Haryana,now each Punjab MLA will get a laptop and is entitled to exactly the same allowances Rs 15,000 as constituency allowance,Rs 3,000 as sumptuary allowance,Rs 1,000 as daily allowance and Rs 5,000 as secretarial allowance. Though the committee had also recommended similar hike in pay and perks for the Chief Minister,ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries,only the Bill on hike for legislators will come up during this session. The hike for ministers and CPS is under consideration but has not been included in the current proposals, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tikshan Sud said. The last hike in ministers salaries came in 2003 when it surged from Rs 2,500 to Rs 15,000.
