MPs Emoluments Grow

New Delhi, Sep 14 (UNI) Bigger pay packets, double daily allowances and pension and two extra air journeys a year are due for India's Members of Parliament from today, the Law and Justice Ministry said today.

This flows from the enactment of the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2006, passed by Parliament in the monsoon session and assented to by President APJ Abdul Kalam on September 12, a Ministry statement said.

For five years from today, the MPs' monthly salary has gone up from Rs 12,000 hitherto to Rs 16,000 and their daily allowance from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for each day of duty, the statement said.

Each MP would now be eligible for 34 single air journeys in a year as against 32 hitherto, the statement said.

It said the enactment also raised the monthly pension of former MPs to Rs 6,000 from Rs 3,000 hitherto and the family pension payable to the spouse or dependent of an MP dying during his term of office will now be Rs 3,000 a month for life as against Rs 1,500 for five years hitherto.

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