Punjab Governor To Not Sign Bill Raising Salaries

The governor said the he will sign the bill only upon the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Lahore (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 14th March, 2019) Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has decided not to sign the bill raising salaries of Punjab Assembly members.

The governor said the he will sign the bill only upon the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He added that he will take a briefing from law department in this regard.

The approval of the raise in salaries is conditioned to the sign of Chaudhry Sarwar.

The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill increasing the salary, allowances, perks and privileges to each legislator just in 24 hours.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed his disappointment over Punjab Assembly's decision to raise pays and privileges of its members, the provincial Chief Minister and other ministers.

In a tweet on Thursday, he said such a move could be justified once prosperity returns to the country. He said this decision is untenable as currently we do not have resources to provide basic amenities to all our people.

Meanwhile, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also criticised Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for raising salaries of Punjab Assembly members.

Taking to Twitter, the information minister said that Punjab government and Chief Minister House seem to be in dark about the austerity policies of federal government.

“Seems Punjab Government and the CM House is in the dark about the PM and the federal Govt Austerity policies otherwise such sham exercise of awarding huge benefits to themselves would not have happened,” he wrote.

According to the bill, MPA's salary and incentives have been increased from Rs83000 to Rs2 lac/month.

The basic salary has been raised from Rs18,000 to Rs80,000/month, daily allowance from Rs1000 to Rs4000/month and house rent from Rs29,000 to Rs50,000/month.

Besides this, the bill has fixed utility allowance from Rs6000 to Rs20,000/month and hospitality allowance from Rs10,000 to Rs20,000/month.

Under the bill, salaries of the speaker and deputy speaker have been increased to Rs260,000 and Rs245,000, respectively.

The chief minister will now draw Rs425,000 per month.

The salary of a minister has been increased to Rs275,000 and an MPA will now draw Rs195,000 per month.

Besides salary, each legislator will receive an additional amount of Rs50,000 per month as house rent. Former chief ministers, who do not have their own house in Lahore, would be given official residence in the provincial capital.