BANGALORE: A day after legislators proposed a hike in their pay at the Legislative Assembly, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) councillors are now batting for an increase in their pay scale and other perks. If the government approves the proposed hike, Palike will have to bear an additional Rs 5 crore burden annually. The BBMP Council passed a resolution to increase the honourarium of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors.
Also, councillors have sought an increase in the sitting fees for attending monthly council meetings and allowances for attending Standing Committee meetings.
For the first time, they have also included vehicle and landline telephone allowances for all the 198 councillors. In the proposed hike, monthly council meeting sitting allowance for all the councillors has been proposed from Rs 400 to Rs 1,000 while Standing Committee members’ meeting allowance has been proposed from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000. Also, Rs 6,000 landline allowance and Rs 5,000 vehicle allowance has been proposed. Palike which is spending Rs 1.95 crore will have to shell out Rs 7.29 crore, if the proposal is approved.
It can be recalled that the BBMP has been mortgaging its properties to restructure its loans and has an outstanding of Rs 7,000 crore. Councillors from all political parties unanimously stood together in support of the proposal.
That apart, a resolution was passed to provide pension of Rs 20,000 per month for former councillors. The resolutions were sent to the government for approval. Mayor Sharadamma, during her last council meeting, had approved the resolutions to enhance the honorarium.