Bhubaneswar, Mar 26 (PTI) Amid widespread public outrage, the Odisha government on Thursday moved to withdraw four bills passed in the Assembly, but awaiting the Governor’s assent on a three-fold increase in the salaries, allowances, and pensions of MLAs, ministers, chief minister, speaker, and deputy speaker.
In a letter to all MLAs, the Odisha Assembly secretariat said that Parliamentary Affairs minister Mukesh Mahaling has given notice of his intention to seek leave to withdraw the four amendment bills regarding the hike in salary and pension of members.
The four bills: The Odisha Legislative Assembly Members’ Salary, Allowances and Pension (Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker’s Salary and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Odisha Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker’s Salary and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2025, The Odisha Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2025, were unanimously passed in the House on the last day of the winter session on December 9, 2025.
The letter states that if leave is granted by the House, the bills will be withdrawn. The development effectively shelves the proposed salary and allowance revisions. The bills were pending for the governor’s assent.
In the bills, which got the nod of the House last year, provisions were made to raise the monthly salary and allowance of MLAs more than three times, from Rs 1.11 lakh to Rs 3.45 lakh per month, one of the highest in the country.
According to the bill, the chief minister’s monthly package was raised to Rs 3.74 lakh per month from Rs 98,000. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker would have seen similar sharp increases, with revised car and sumptuary allowances and a hike in former MLAs’ pensions from Rs 30,000 to Rs 80,000 per month with further increments for additional terms.
It was CPI(M)’s lone member, Laxman Munda, who first opposed the MLAs salary hike. Subsequently, BJD president Naveen Patnaik also announced to forgo the enhanced salary, leading to widespread outrage among the public.
Though all the parties supported passing of the bills in the House, later keeping in view the public outrage, legislature parties of all the parties wrote to the chief minister to review the salary hike of lawmakers “to respect public sentiment”. PTI AAM AAM RG
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