Jalandhar, September 5
The Finance Department has put up the proposal to increase the salary and allowances of the Chief Minister as well as cabinet ministers on the back burner till next year. The authorities concerned had forwarded the proposal to the Finance Department to increase the salary of the Chief Minister by 233 per cent and of the cabinet ministers by 150 per cent.
Official sources said Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had rejected the proposal, keeping in view the current tight fiscal situation in the state. He had, the sources said, directed the authorities concerned to postpone the proposal to the next year.
Even officials concerned in the Finance Department had opposed the proposed hefty hike in salaries and allowances. They had opined that the increase should not be more than 25 per cent in any case. And they had opposed the increase in car and house-building loans saying that such loans were available from banks at reasonable interest rates. Moreover, the government had stopped advancing loans to its employees also.
There was a proposal to increase the salary of the Chief Minister to Rs 50,000 per month and of the cabinet ministers to Rs 37,500 per month from the existing Rs 15,000 per month. Of the chief and other parliamentary secretaries, the proposal was to increase the salary to Rs 25,000 per month from the existing Rs 10,000.
There was also a proposal to increase the sumptuary allowance from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,500 per month and telephone allowance to Rs 10,000 per month in case of the Chief Minister and cabinet ministers. The free travel facility was to increase to Rs 2 lakh and constituency allowance to Rs 15,000 per month from Rs 8,000. The house-building loan limit was to increase to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 10 lakh, car advance was to be raised to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 6 lakh and road mileage was to be enhanced to Rs 12 per km from Rs 6 per km and daily allowance to Rs 1,000 per day from Rs 500.
The allowances and loans for chief parliamentary and parliamentary secretaries were to be increased on the pattern of cabinet ministers. The salary of the Speaker was to be increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 per month.
