The Odisha government on Sunday said a joint parliamentary committee has favoured revising the salaries and allowances of MLAs in the state after reviewing the pay and perks of sitting and former legislators.
The panel’s view comes five months after the state government withdrew bills that proposed a three-fold rise in the salaries, allowances and pensions of MLAs and other constitutional functionaries following public outrage.
In a statement, the Parliamentary Affairs Department said the committee examined the salaries and perks of sitting and former members of the Assembly and compared them with those in other state assemblies and in Parliament. State government officials placed documents on the pay, allowances and related facilities available to legislators in other states before the joint parliamentary committee.
“After examining the documents, the joint committee felt that Odisha’s present pay structure for sitting MLAs and former MLAs needs revision,” the statement said.
On March 26, the BJP government in Odisha withdrew four bills that had been passed in the Assembly and were awaiting the governor’s assent. The bills proposed a three-fold increase in the salaries, allowances and pensions of MLAs, ministers, the chief minister, the Speaker and the deputy speaker.
The bills, which were approved by the House in December last year, proposed raising the monthly salary and allowance of MLAs from Rs 1.11 lakh to Rs 3.45 lakh, which would have made it one of the highest packages in the country.
Opposition BJD MLA Ganeswar Behera said there was a need to increase the salary of current legislators and the pension of former legislators in Odisha because these were much lower than in other states. “Our position is at 24th in the table of state assemblies in the country,” he said.
Behera said the financial condition of several former MLAs was precarious and that they were unable to meet medical expenses. A former MLA currently gets Rs 30,000 as monthly pension.
The joint parliamentary committee is headed by MP Birendra Prasad Baishya. Its members include MPs Bijay Kumar Dubey, Beena Devi, K Gopinath, Babu Singh Kushwaha and Richard Vanlalhmangaiha, Parliament Director Bhatshala Joshi, Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling and Assembly secretary Satyabrata Rout.
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Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Aug 31, 2026 10:24 IST
