With 33 pc salary hike, ‘achche din’ for Bihar MLAs

Seems ‘achche din’ has come for legislators in Bihar. Come December 1, the 318 legislators in the State, including 243 MLAs and 75 MLCs, will get a whopping 33 per cent hike in their salary.

The State Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has approved the government proposal to hike the salaries, allowances and perks of the legislators. However, this decision has to be ratified by the State legislature during the winter session of the House, which commences from November 26.

As per the recommendation, the basic salary of a legislator has been increased from Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000. Their constituency allowance has also been hiked from Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000.

“Similarly, their allowance for stationery has been increased from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000. While their allowance for keeping PA (personal assistant) has been hiked to Rs 30,000 from Rs 20,000,” said a senior official of the Cabinet Coordination Department, U N Pandey.

Among other pay bonanza offered by the Nitish regime, each legislator will now be entitled to Rs 15 lakh loan to purchase a vehicle, instead of the current ceiling of Rs 10 lakh. Similarly, there is a 50 per cent hike in their rail/flight allowance from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per annum.