On 22 February, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed bills hiking salaries and allowances of the chief minister, ministers as well as the legislators. This will mean an additional recurring yearly expenditure of about Rs 92.4 crore.
These bills have been pending for a long time and were proposed on the basis of increasing cost of living.
The bill sought to increase the Chief Minister’s salary from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 per month. It seeks to hike the salary of ministers from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month. The sumptuary allowance for both will be hiked from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4.50 lakh a year.
The house rent allowance of ministers is to go up from Rs 80,000 per month to Rs 1.20 lakh per month, while the allowance to maintain these houses and premises has also been hiked from Rs 20,000 per month to Rs 30,000 a month. Henceforth, Rs 2,000 will be paid towards petrol charges by the government, instead of the earlier Rs 1,000.
As per the bill, the legislative assembly speaker and the chairperson of the legislative council will enjoy a salary of Rs 75,000 instead of the earlier Rs 50,000. The monthly salary of the leaders of the opposition will also increase to Rs 60,000 from the earlier Rs 40,000 per month.
The tour allowance for the ministers will be Rs 2,500 per day. The MLAs and MLCs may now look forward to a salary of Rs 40,000 per month instead of the earlier Rs 25,000.
