Bhubaneswar: In a significant political shift, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislative party have formally requested Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to reconsider the recently approved proposal to hike the salaries of MLAs and pensions for former legislators.
The request comes at a time when the Finance Bill concerning the hike is still pending for approval with the Governor. Speaking to the media following a meeting of the lawmakers, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Mukesh Mahaling confirmed that the legislative party has urged the Chief Minister to review the decision in light of widespread public criticism.
The proposed hike has drawn significant flak across the state, with citizens and civil society groups questioning the timing and scale of the increase. While the salaries of Odisha’s lawmakers had not been revised for the last eight years, the current proposal suggested a dramatic rise that would make them among the highest-paid legislators in the country. Under the bill passed earlier this month, the total monthly remuneration for an MLA was set to jump from approximately 1.11 lakh to 3.45 lakh.
Public anger was further fueled by the retrospective nature of the hike, which was slated to take effect from June 2024. Despite the initial unanimous support for the bill in the Assembly, the ruling party now appears to be reacting to the growing perception that the three-fold increase is excessive compared to the state’s average per capita income.