Around ₹28 crore annual expenditure is incurred by Haryana government on pension to 275 former MLAs and family pension to spouses of 128 deceased ex-MLAs, revealed a reply under the Right to Information Act.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab had last month done away with pension for multiple terms to the MLAs refuelling discussion around hefty pension and benefits to the legislators. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had, in a tweet on March 25, said that MLAs in the State would now get pension only for a single term.
Former Haryana Minister and four-time MLA Nirmal Singh Mohra, who merged his party Haryana Democratic Front with AAP earlier this month, had in a press conference two days ago announced to surrender his three-term pension and demanded “One MLA-One Pension” rule for the State.
The reply to the RTI application by Haryana Vidhan Sabha secretariat has revealed that around ₹24 crore was being spent on the pension to former MLAs and ₹4 crore on the family pension.
Former Haryana Finance Minister and six-time MLA Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav draws the highest monthly pension of ₹2,38,050, while former Chief Minister Late Bhajan Lal’s widow Jasma Devi tops the list of family pension beneficiaries with a monthly pension of ₹99,619, said the reply to the RTI application filed by Panipat-based RTI activist P.P. Kapoor on February 7 this year.
Among other prominent beneficiaries, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala draws monthly pension of ₹2,22,500, former MLA and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala’s father Ajay Chautala draws ₹61,800. Ms. Devi, also a former MLA, besides drawing family pension, also gets ₹61.800 monthly pension.
Ranked among India’s most successful businesswomen, Savitri Jindal, former Haryana Urban Local Bodies minister, draws a monthly pension of ₹1 lakh, including ₹9,400 Special Travelling Allowance.
Also, 105 former and present MLAs, including former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Meham MLA Balraj Kundu, former BJP chief Subhash Barala and MLA Renuka Bishnoi, have availed of motor car advance up to ₹20 lakh. Similarly, 68 former and present MLAs, including Home Minister Anil Vij, have drawn housing building advance up to ₹60 lakh.
Mr. Kapoor said that hefty pensions and vehicle and home loans on low rates to the former and current legislators at the expense of the common man must stop. He argued that many of the beneficiaries were big industrialists and rich businessmen, but still enjoying the benefits of pension and loans at low interest rates.
