Jammu and Kashmir’s legislators are willing to shed their differences if that can fatten their purse.
Legislators known for sparring over every public interest issue have found common ground — not in their fight against the region’s troubling disempowerment, its crippling unemployment or the alleged heavy-handedness of the security establishment, but on measures that seek to brighten their fortunes.
A House committee set up by Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather to examine the revision of salaries and allowances of MLAs and pension benefits of ex-legislators has recommended doubling the monthly emoluments from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh.
The panel, which submitted its report to the Speaker this week, has also recommended amendments to the salaries of the Speaker, chief minister, ministers and the leader of the Opposition.
Not satisfied with a 100 per cent hike in emoluments, the legislators have proposed a raft of additional perks like increasing housing loan entitlement from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh and car advance from ₹10 lakh to ₹25 lakh.
After retirement, they want their pension and allowances hiked from ₹60,000 to ₹1.1 lakh.
The demand for a generous hike in emoluments is bound to rile the public at a time the Omar Abdullah government faces accusations of failing to deliver on nearly all its major election promises, including the restoration of Article 370 and statehood.
Lakhs of people are jobless while households struggle to pay power tariffs, made worse by stringent government action against electricity pilferage.
The cash-strapped Omar government had to restrict the free 200 units of electricity to only the poorest families.
The names of legislators on the House committee and their party affiliations show how the consensus is complete when it comes to self-interest.
The committee is headed by BJP MLA Surjit Singh Slathia. Veteran NC MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar, Congress AICC general secretary and MLA Ghulam
Ahmad Mir, Peoples Conference president and MLA Sajad Lone, former Anantnag MP and current NC MLA Hasnain Masoodi and former PDP MP and current MLA Mohammad Fayaz.
Pirzada Farooq Ahmed Shah and Arjun Singh Raju from the NC and Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, an Independent, are also on the committee.
The panel has sought to amend the Salaries and Allowances of Members of the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Act, 1960, to increase the salary of the legislators from ₹60,000 to ₹80,000.
Additionally, they want ₹1.10 lakh as constituency conveyance allowance, ₹30,000 for telephone allowance, ₹20,000 for medical allowance, ₹30,000 for sumptuary allowance and ₹30,000 for secretariat assistance allowance, totalling ₹3 lakh per month.
The panel has also recommended increasing the salary of personal assistants of MLAs from ₹12,000 per month to ₹25,000.
The committee recommended that the proposed amendments be applied retrospectively from November 1, 2024.
“The role of a legislator is a full-time responsibility and at present they find it difficult to meet growing expenses associated with their public duties. Therefore, a revision of salaries and allowances of legislators has become necessary,” the report said.
A Jammu-based activist called it a loot, pointing to the monthly telephone allowance of ₹30,000. “The unlimited plan costs less than ₹4,000 annually. But they want an annual telephone allowance of ₹3.6 lakh,” he said.