Delhi Cabinet approves salary hike for MLAs to Rs 30,000 per month

New Delhi [India], August 3 : The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday approved a salary hike for the MLAs of Delhi as proposed by the Centre. With this, the MLAs will now get a salary of Rs 30,000 per month.
"The Delhi Cabinet today approved the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, (Amendment) Bill 2021 and MLAs/Speaker-Dy Speaker/Chief Whip/Leader of Opposition of Legislative Assembly of Delhi (Amendment) Bills 2021," the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a statement.
After the Cabinet approval, the proposal and draft bills will be sent for Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) approval before being placed in Delhi Assembly.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led cabinet approved the Centre's proposed salary for MLAs and added that Delhi's MLAs continue to be among the lowest-paid MLAs.
"The Ministry of Home Affairs of the BJP-led Central Government restricted the proposal of the Delhi Government and capped the salary of the MLAs to only Rs. 30,000. Even as the cost of living in Delhi has risen substantially," the CMO said.
It further said that the salary of Delhi's MLAs hasn't increased since 2011 and the Delhi Government had requested the MHA that the salary of Delhi's MLAs be at par with MLAs of other states.
As per the CMO, the MLAs of BJP and Congress-led states earn around two times the amount that Delhi MLAs will get.
"Several BJP ruled states pay to their MLAs 1.5 to 2 times the salary and allowances proposed for Delhi MLAs - Uttarakhand (1.98L), Himachal Pradesh (1.9L), Haryana (1.55L), Bihar (1.3L). Other parties to pay their MLAs much higher e.g. Congress in Rajasthan (1.42L) and YSR Congress in Telangana (2.5L)," the statement said.
Delhi Government had proposed a salary of Rs 54,000 for the MLAs, however, the MHA restricted it to Rs 30,000. "Now the salary plus allowances of the MLAs of Delhi has been restricted by the MHA to Rs 90,000," it said.