SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday withdrew three Bills proposing increases in the salaries and allowances of the chief minister, ministers and legislators after BJP members opposed the move, linking the proposed hikes to the long-pending demands of daily-wage and casual workers in the Union Territory.
There are around 1.05 lakh daily-wage and casual workers in J&K, who have threatened massive protests if the government does not address their demands, including regularisation and higher wages, by October 10.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the Bills had been examined and approved by a House Committee headed by BJP MLA Surjit Singh Slathia, with no member submitting a dissenting note.
After BJP members objected to the proposed hikes, Abdullah withdrew the Bills. He said the BJP members were in favour of increasing salaries and allowances but were trying to politicise the issue by linking it to the problems of daily-wage workers.
“I was never in favour of it (raise in salaries). I had said if a single member opposes it, it will never pass. I withdraw the Bills,” the CM said.
The House later voted in favour of withdrawing the Bills.
Two of the Bills proposed raising the monthly salary of the CM from Rs 70,000 to Rs 95,000 and that of ministers from Rs 65,000 to Rs 85,000.
The third Bill proposed increasing the monthly salary and allowances of MLAs from Rs 1.30 lakh to Rs 1.65 lakh. This included a salary hike from Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000, an increase in constituency allowance from Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 and medical allowance from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
Slathia said the 10-member House Committee had examined the salary and allowance structures of ministers and legislators in various UT and states before submitting its recommendations.
He said the government acted on the committee's report but had not taken any decision on the regularisation or wages of daily-wage workers. “And today we said in the Assembly that we are not in favour of this hike till the daily wagers issue is solved,” he said.
BJP MLA RS Pathania said the government should first address the grievances of daily-wage workers. He said that if the salaries of ministers and MLAs were to be increased, the government should follow the House Committee's recommendations.
“The recommendation of the House committee was illegally and unconstitutionally modified and we protested against it,” Pathania said.
However, senior National Conference leader and Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary questioned the BJP's objections, saying its members should have raised them when the committee was constituted under Slathia.
Choudhary claimed that the committee had recommended a salary of Rs 3 lakh for MLAs, a pension of Rs 1.5 lakh and salaries for personal assistants.
He alleged that the BJP opposed the Bills because the CM did not increase the MLAs' salary to Rs 3 lakh as recommended by the committee and subsequently linked the issue to the demands of daily-wage workers.