Bhubaneswar, March 14 (IANS): A day after enhancing the remuneration of Panchayati Raj representatives, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced a significant hike of remuneration and allowances for the elected representatives of urban local bodies in the state.
According to a statement by the Chief Minister's Office, the representatives of five Municipal Corporations, 48 Municipalities, 68 Notified Area Councils (NACs) such as Mayor, deputy Mayor, corporators, chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, and councilors will be benefited by the decision of the state government.
The state government took the decision by modifying the Orissa Municipal Corporation Rules, 2004, and Orissa Municipal Rules, 1953, as per the recommendations of the fifth state finance commission.
The remuneration of mayors has been enhanced to Rs 50,000 from the existing Rs 8,000 per month. The deputy mayors who are currently receiving Rs 5,000 will now get Rs 20,000 every month.
Similarly, the remuneration of chairpersons, deputy chairpersons of the municipalities has been increased to Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively.
The chairpersons and deputy chairpersons were earlier getting Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,200 per month, respectively. The state government hiked the remuneration of NAC chairpersons and vice chairpersons to Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,500 from the existing Rs 1,000 and Rs 800, respectively.
The corporators who were earlier getting Rs 700 as allowances for each of the meetings of municipal corporations will now receive Rs 2000 per meeting. Similarly, the allowances for councilors of municipalities and NACs have been increased to Rs 500 from the existing Rs 150.
Besides, the Standing Committee members of Municipal Corporations will now receive Rs 200 per day during the meetings.
The CM also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for next of kin in case any representative of municipalities expires when in office.
The representatives will get Rs 2 lakh and 1 Lakh if they suffered permanent disability and partial disability, respectively, due to any accident.
The government will bear the annual expenditure of Rs 4,76,52,000 for the purpose.