Meghalaya reduces salaries of MLAs ahead of assembly polls

GUWAHATI: By reducing the salary marginally, the government has tried to fool people. It is purely an attempt to woo voters and has nothing to do with stress on the state exchequer.

SHIBUN LYNGDOH,

Meghalaya BJP chief

With elections only months away, the Congress-led government of Mukul Sangma in Meghalaya has decided to marginally reduce the salaries of legislators in the state.

The decision taken on Wednesday to reduce the salaries by ₹8,000 every month comes six months after the pay and perks of MLAs were nearly doubled to ₹2.10 lakh.

State parliamentary affairs minister Martin M Danggo informed about the cabinet’s Wednesday decision in Shillong to amend Legislative Assembly (Members Salaries and Allowances) Amendment Ordinance, 2017.

Sangma said the decision was taken to ensure that the total salary and perks given to MLAs do not exceed that of state government ministers.

“Irrespective of the timing, what is good has to be decided. But if every good and correct decision is alleged upon and interpreted as an election gimmick, that is wrong,” said the chief minister.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), aiming to dislodge the Congress government in the next polls, termed the move an attempt to fool voters.

“By reducing the salary marginally, the government has tried to fool people. It is purely an attempt to woo voters and has nothing to do with stress on the state exchequer,” Shibun Lyngdoh, Meghalaya BJP chief, told HT.

Lyngdoh pointed out that Meghalaya is yet to implement provisions of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations while central government employees are already getting pay as per the Seventh Pay Commission guidelines.

Meghalaya will go to polls early next year and there is a tussle between Congress and BJP to wrest power in the Christianmajority state.