BHUBANESWAR: In view of increased work load of Panchayati Raj representatives due to their role in management of Covid-19 pandemic, the Odisha Government on Thursday increased their monthly honorarium with retrospective effect from April 1, 2020.
The State Government had recently made the fight against Covid-19 pandemic panchayat-centric by keeping sarpanchs in charge of the quarantine centres in rural areas.
The Government had also given power of collectors to sarpanchs in a bid to empower and enable them to take independent decisions to tackle coronavirus at their local level.
Many sarpanchs played a proactive role to assist the Government in efforts to contain the spread of the deadly virus by imposing shutdowns and lockdowns and taking effective preventive measures in their respective areas.
According to a resolution of the Panchayati Raj department, the honorarium was fixed a long time back and deserved revision in the context of present price index, rising cost of living and mobility. As per the decision, the monthly honorarium of naib sarpanch and sarpanch has been increased from Rs 750 and Rs 1880 to Rs 940 and Rs 2,350 respectively.
The honorarium of member and vice-chairperson of a panchayat samiti have been revised from Rs 1,880 to Rs 2,350 while chairpersons will get honorarium of Rs 3,530. The block chairpersons were getting monthly payment of Rs 2,820 until now.
Similarly, a member of Zilla Parishad will get Rs 3,530 per month instead of Rs 2,820 while payment of vice-president has been increased to Rs 7,040 from Rs 5,630. The honorarium of the Zilla Parishad president has been increased to Rs 9,380 per month from Rs 7,500.
However, the daily allowances and sitting fees of the elected panchayat representatives remain unchanged.
Ward member, naib sarpanch, sarpanch, member, vice-chairperson and chairperson of panchayat samitis get daily allowances and sitting fee of Rs 40 and Rs 200 respectively. Similarly, member, vice-president and president of Zilla Parishads get daily allowances and sitting fee of Rs 80 and Rs 220 respectively.