NEW DELHI: The central government has rejected the proposal of Delhi government to increase the salary of MLAs.According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has rejected the proposal of Delhi government to remove the cap on the salary of legislators. At present, the monthly pay out of a Delhi MLA is capped at Rs 90,000, which includes Rs 30,000 salary and other allowances.
The restriction imposed by the Centre has put Delhi’s MLAs among the lowest earning state legislators in the country whereas MLAs of states ruled by the BJP and Congress earn around 1.5 to 2 times that of their counterparts in Delhi.
The salary of Delhi’s MLAs hasn’t increased since 2011 and the AAP government had requested the MHA that the salary to be made at par with MLAs of other states. The MHA has refused to do so, said sources in the Delhi government.
The matter is likely to be taken up in the cabinet meeting slated to be chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. The issue of increasing the salary has come up during Assembly sessions as well with the lawmakers making the request saying the cost of living has risen substantially but their salary has not, for a decade.
Several BJP-ruled states pay to their MLAs higher. In Uttarakhand an MLA’s monthly pay out is Rs 1.98 lakh while the amount is Rs 1.9 lakh in Himachal Pradesh and Rs 1.55 lakh in Haryana. The proposal to hike salary of Delhi MLAs has been pending with the MHA for the last five years.
MCD mayors meet L-G, seek help for funds
The mayors of the three municipal corporations in Delhi jointly met L-G Anil Baijal on Monday and sought his intervention in seeking release of funds “due” to the MCD’s from the city government. During the hour-long meet at the Raj Niwas, the three mayors also discussed the ongoing vaccination drive against Covid-19. North Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said the “precarious financial position” of the NDMC was inherited as a legacy, with trifurcation of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2012