Andhra legislators receive tablet, iphones

It's a windfall for the legislators in Andhra Pradesh with the state government gifting them a tablet and iphone each along with some other items.

All 370 members of both the houses returned home with the gifts Friday, the last day of the budget session.

The 20-day session was marked by pandemonium over Telangana issue and even the budget was passed without any debate but this did not prevent the government from showering gifts on the legislators.

Each legislator was gifted Sony Xperia Z tablet, which costs about Rs.47,000. The finance ministry has spent Rs.1.51 crore on the tablets.

The information technology department has gifted a iphone each to the legislators while industries department has presented a gift voucher of Rs.7,500. The tribal welfare department too gave gift packs.

During the budget session in 2011, the lawmakers were given laptops, printers, scanners, iPads and mobile phones.

The legislature had then passed a bill hiking salaries and allowances of the members by about 150 percent. The monthly pay packet increased from Rs.40,000 to Rs.95,000