A Parliamentary Joint Committee on salaries and allowances arrived in Bhubaneswar on Sunday for a close look at what sitting and former members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly receive — and how that package compares with Parliament and other states.
The committee first met Speaker Surama Padhy. It later held separate discussions with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling, Assembly Secretary Satyabrata Rout and senior officials. The talks covered sitting members’ salaries and allowances as well as pension and related benefits for former MLAs.
Officials placed before the visitors a comparative note on pay, allowances and allied facilities available to Members of Parliament and legislators in other states. After examining that picture, the joint committee felt that Odisha’s present structure for sitting MLAs and former MLAs needs change.
The visiting team is headed by MP Birendra Prasad Baishya. Other members on the Bhubaneswar visit include MPs Bijay Kumar Dubey, Beena Devi, K. Gopinath, Babu Singh Kushwaha and Richard Vanlalhmangaiha, along with Parliament Director Bhatshala Joshi.
The visit comes against a charged backdrop. The Assembly had earlier approved a steep upward revision of salaries, allowances and pensions; those bills were later withdrawn after public backlash. Sunday’s meetings did not announce a new formula. They did, however, put on record a national panel’s view that Odisha’s package should be re-examined in the light of other legislatures.
For the state government and the Assembly Secretariat, the next step is likely to be more paperwork: detailed comparisons, cost implications, and a politically acceptable path between the demands of legislators and the mood of the public. The committee’s impression — that change is required — is now part of that record.
