On Thursday, March 11, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that the legislators’ salaries, which were slashed by 30 per cent in wake of the pandemic, will be restored from April.
Pawar made the statement while speaking on the discussion on Budget in the Legislative Assembly.
The Finance minister received several complaints that salary cut was making it difficult for the representatives to carry out development works in their constituencies, hence the decision was taken to restore the salaries from next month.
Pawar further announced a hike in Local Area Development (LAD) fund of legislators from the existing INR 3 crores to INR 4 crores. Last year, Pawar had hiked the legislators’ LAD fund from INR 2 crores to INR 3 crores.
No matter what may come, the government is ready to face them and will always be committed for the development of Maharashtra, said Ajit Pawar.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar announced on Tuesday that the March salaries of all elected representatives, including the Chief Minister, MLAs and MLCs, will be cut by 60 per cent. With regard to Maharashtra government personnel, Class A and B officers will get have to suffer a 50 per cent salary cut while the Class C will get paid 75 per cent of the salary. The salaries of Class D employees will remain untouched.
Pawar said that the decision to implement the salary cut was taken after consulting the representatives of all the employees. The decision has been taken in order to fight economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus and the lockdown, he said.
He added that the decision to reduce the salary burden has the support of all the members of State Legislative Assembly and Council, as well as members of local self-governing bodies.
In the year 2020-21, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the state had declined by 8 per cent. However, to boost the economy, the budget focuses on job creation and welfare schemes as well as infrastructure development.
The government is hoping to extend the relief to lower-class and middle-class families through this scheme. So, while issuing the government order for the scheme, we will be mentioning a price cap for the property purchased. Someone who buys a house worth INR 10 crores should not be able to get this relief, Pawar said.