3 lakh pay for Telangana legislators

Salaries of the Telangana legislators are set to go up to Rs 3 lakh from the present Rs 95,000. The perks given to cabinet rank ministers will also be hiked soon. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday responded positively at a high-level meeting to the long-pending demand from MLAs and MLCs to hike their salaries in view of increase in expenditure in performing duties in their constituencies.

The Chief Minister discussed the issue with Telangana Assembly Secretary Raja Sadaram and other officials. The officials informed him that the total expenditure incurred in paying salaries and perks to the legislators was Rs 14.94 crore per year, which



was a mere 0.001 per cent of the total Rs 1.15 lakh crore state budget. 

The Chief Minister was informed that the legislators were facing financial burden due to regular visit to villages in their respective constituencies, pleas from the poor for financial assistance, maintenance of their staff, including gunmen, drivers and other supporting staff in their areas.

The officials said that it is estimated that at least Rs 3 lakh salary to each MLA or MLC per month would be required to address their needs. The recent proposal to increase the salaries of MLAs to Rs 4 lakh by the Delhi state government was also discussed in the meeting.