Jharkhand Assembly committee recommends 25 % hike of CM salary, Supplementary budget of Rs 8,111.75 crore tabled in winter session 

Ranchi, December 18: The second day of the winter session of the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday saw tabling of the supplementary budget and a special committee report recommending hike in salary of chief minister and other ministers.

The special committee of the Jharkhand Assembly recommended a 25 per cent salary hike for the chief minister and about 31 per cent for other ministers.

The five-member panel had been set up to review the salaries and other perks of the chief minister, ministers, speaker, leader of the opposition, chief whip and whip.

The convener of the committee, BJP MLA Ramchandra Chandravanshi, tabled its report in the House during the day.

The panel recommended increasing the salary of the chief minister from Rs 80,000 per month to Rs 1 lakh per month. Similarly, the salary of ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers was recommended for an increase from Rs 65,000 per month to Rs 85,000 per month.

The report said that since recommendation for a hike in salary and other perks of the MLAs has already been sent to the government, it was now necessary to review the same for other members.

The committee proposed to increase the salary of the speaker to Rs 98,000 per month from Rs 78,000 per month and the deputy speaker to Rs 75,000 per month from Rs 55,000 per month.

Similarly, a hike of Rs 20,000 on the existing Rs 65,000 has been recommended for the leader of the opposition.

The committee recommended increasing the salary of the chief whip from Rs 55,500 to Rs 75,000 per month and whip from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month.

Meanwhile, amid ruckus by the opposition BJP, the second supplementary budget of Rs 8,111.75 crore for 2023-24 was tabled in Jharkhand Assembly.

As soon as the house assembled BJP legislators trooped into the well raising slogans against the Hemant Soren-led JMM government in the state.

The opposition, led by BJP chief whip Biranchi Narayan, demanded a debate on the recovery of unaccounted cash from the premises linked to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu and ED summons to Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Leader of the Opposition, Amar Bauri, said the issue of cash haul, ED summons and deteriorating law and order situation are the state’s burning issues.

“The CM took oath of office and secrecy. He should honour the summons of a central probe agency. Despite six summons by the agency, the CM is running away. Why shouldn’t he resign from his post. We want a debate in the House,” Bauri said.

Replying to this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam said Sahu is not a member of Jharkhand Assembly.

“He is a Rajya Sabha member. It is not a state matter. As far as ED summons are concerned, the CM is replying to the probe agency,” he said.

Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto said the House should avoid issues, which are not linked to the state assembly.