Odisha MLAs Award Themselves 310% Salary Hike, Now Among India’s Highest Paid
From ₹1.11 lakh to ₹3.45 lakh monthly in one historic swoop.
The Odisha Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously awarded its members a staggering 310% salary increase, catapulting an MLA’s monthly package from ₹1.11 lakh to a jaw-dropping ₹3.45 lakh, instantly making Odisha lawmakers among the highest-paid legislators in India with retrospective effect from June 2024.
In a lightning session, four amendment bills sailed through without a single dissenting vote, tripling the salaries of the Chief Minister (now ₹3.74 lakh), Speaker and Deputy Chief Minister (₹3.68 lakh each), Cabinet ministers and Leader of Opposition (₹3.62 lakh each), while also inflating pensions for former MLAs to ₹1.17 lakh per month and introducing automatic hikes every five years and even empowering future raises through ordinance without fresh legislation.
The new structure breaks down into ₹90,000 basic salary, ₹75,000 constituency allowance, ₹50,000 conveyance, ₹50,000 fixed travel, ₹35,000 medical, ₹20,000 electricity, ₹15,000 telephone, ₹10,000 books and periodicals, creating a lavish compensation ecosystem that lawmakers across party lines justified as overdue recognition of rising responsibilities and living costs since their last revision in 2007.
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A generous ₹25 lakh death benefit for families of sitting MLAs was also inserted, alongside provisions for additional ₹3,000 pension per completed term for ex-legislators, prompting Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik to declare the enhanced pension would bring critical relief to elderly and ailing former members who have long struggled financially.
With the treasury set to bear an additional annual burden running into hundreds of crores, the unanimous self-voted bonanza has cemented Odisha’s position at the very top of state legislator pay scales nationwide, drawing immediate scrutiny over timing and magnitude even as members thanked Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for delivering what they described as long-pending justice to the political class.
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