PA passes bill raising salaries of lawmakers

LAHORE (92 News) – The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill increasing the salary, allowances, perks and privileges to each legislator. Under the bill, salaries of the speaker and deputy speaker have been increased to Rs260,000 and Rs245,000, respectively. The chief minister will now draw Rs425,000 per month. The salary of a minister has been increased to Rs275,000 and an MPA will now draw Rs195,000 per month. Besides salary, each legislator will receive an additional amount of Rs50,000 per month as house rent. Former chief ministers, who do not have their own house in Lahore, would be given official residence in the provincial capital. A day earlier, as the Punjab Assembly echoed with the thumping of the desks by both treasury and opposition lawmakers over a bill to increase their salaries, they also lauded a resolution passed unanimously demanding the federal government to confer military awards upon the pilots who shot down the Indian jets. Usually, the treasury and the opposition raise objections on a bill presented by the opponent but this time the lawmakers of both sides had no sign of objections on their faces and they wholeheartedly welcomed “The Punjab Public Representation Laws Amendment Bill 2019”. The house reverberated with the continuous thumping of the desks by the legislators and then the chair referred the bill to the standing committee concerned. On March 5, the matter of a raise in the salaries of the MPAs had come under discussion when the ruling party’s MPA Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena, on point of order, had drawn attention of the house towards the ‘sufficient salaries’ of the member of other provinces. He had said these assemblies had increased the salaries of their members but the Punjab Assembly did not. Responding to the proposal, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat had said the bill had already been submitted which need the approval from the cabinet and then finally it would be brought into the assembly. On this, Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari said the bill should be passed if all the members were satisfied and had no objection over it. He said the provincial law minister should introduce this bill this week.