From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Feb 22: The Covid pandemic may have forced many companies, especially small and medium ones to shut down and lakhs of people may have lost jobs or suffered substantial cuts in their remunerations. During the crisis, the government was able to achieve substantial reduction in loss of revenues to the State exchequer by slashing the allocations to different departments during the last two years. But now, the Karnataka MLAs and MLCs passed two Legislative Bills substantially giving themselves hefty hikes in salaries and allowances.

The monthly salaries as well as the allowances of the legislators, ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Leader of Opposition and others will be increased when the bills get the Governor’s approval.

The Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, February 22 which would increase the monthly salary of the chief minister from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 while those of ministers from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000. Their sumptuary allowance would go up from Rs 3 lac to Rs 4.50 lac per annum.

The salary of Minister of State rank too will be increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 and the sumptuary allowance will go up from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per annum.

Ministers' house rent allowance would be increased from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh per month and maintenance allowance would be up from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month.

In addition, the travelling and other allowances of the ministers too would go up, the Bill said. Hike in salaries and allowances of Ministers would cost Rs 25.40 crore to the State per year.

The Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was also passed.

Monthly salaries of the Speaker of the Assembly and the Chairman of the Council would go up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 while their annual sumptuary allowance would be increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. Sumptuary allowance is given for the expenditure incurred on entertaining visitors.

The house rent allowances for the Chairman, Deputy Chairman of the Council, Speaker, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, Government chief whip and Opposition chief whip would be doubled from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.60 lakh per month.

Conveyance allowances (equal to the cost of petrol) of the Chairman and Speaker would be doubled from 1,000 litres to 2,000 litres of petrol per month. It would also double the quantity of petrol for cars from 1,000 litres to 2,000 liters per month for presiding officers of both Houses.

The travelling allowances of the chairman, Deputy Chairman, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, Government chief whip and Opposition chief whip would go up from Rs 30 to Rs 40 per km for road journey and daily allowance (DA) would increase from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 for the days of journey and for the days of halt at any place.

In case of tours outside Karnataka, their DA would go up from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 for the days of journey and from Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,000 for days of halt.

The monthly salary of the Deputy Chairman and the Deputy Speaker would be hiked from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 while the conveyance allowances (equal to the cost of petrol) would go up from 1000 litres to 1500 litres of petrol per month.

Salary, conveyance, and conveyance allowance payable to the Deputy Chairman, Deputy Speaker or the person performing the duties of the Chairman and the Speaker (in case vacancies) would be increased from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 a month.

The quantity of petrol required for discharging duties of the Deputy Chairman and the Deputy Speaker would be hiked from 750 litres to 1500 litres per month.

The sumptuary allowances of the Deputy Speaker, Deputy Chairman and chief whips (both government and opposition) would be up from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh per annum.

The monthly salary of the Leader of the Opposition in both Houses would go up from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 and the conveyance allowance (equal to the cost of petrol) for them would go up from 1,000 litres to 2,000 litres. They are also eligible for fuel for their cars and the limit would be doubled from 750 litres to 1500 litres of petrol.

The sumptuary allowances of the Leader of the Opposition would go up from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh per annum.

MLAs and MLCs

The monthly salaries of MLAs and MLCs would increase from Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000.

On top of this, the pension of legislators would be hiked from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 in case he or she becomes a member for one term. If a person served more than five years, an additional pension at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month would be given for every subsequent completed term but it should not exceed Rs 1 lakh.

Travelling allowances for legislators would go up from Rs 25 to Rs 35 per km irrespective of mode of journey. The DA for legislators attending meetings would be increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 within the State and from Rs 5,000 to Rs 70000 outside the State. The local transport allowance would up from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2000 outside the state.

The monthly constituency allowance for legislators would go up from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000.

The annual leave cum travelling (LTA) allowances for legislators, including ministers and presiding officers increased to 2.50 lakh from Rs 2 lakh.

However, the telephone allowances remained unchanged at Rs 20,000 per month.

All these hikes would cost the State exchequer Rs 67 crore per year.