New Delhi, September 18: Parliament on Friday passed a bill to reduce for one year the salaries of MPs by 30 per cent "to meet the exigencies arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic". The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha with a voice vote. Lok Sabha had passed the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2020 bill earlier this week.

It will replace the Salary, Allowances And Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, that was cleared by the Cabinet on April 6 and promulgated the next day. The Upper House also passed the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which proposes to reduce the salaries and allowances of ministers by 30 per cent for a year. Shashi Tharoor Welcomes Salary-Cut For MPs Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Questions Suspension of MPLADS For Two Years.

Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy moved the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Both bills were taken up simultaneously and passed by voice vote.

While supporting the cuts in salaries, most Opposition members who participated in the discussion urged the government to review its decision to suspend the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme for two years saying it was necessary to carry out development works in their respective constituencies.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said this was a temporary suspension.

During the debate, Joshi said it did not matter how much money was being saved through salary cuts of members. "Charity should begin from home and that is the concept we have started. It is not Rs 4 crore saving as said by DMK member but Rs 53.9 crore per year from members' salary," he said.

DMK member P Wilson had earlier during the discussion said the measure would entail savings of just Rs 4 crore. On several opposition members asking the government to stop various projects like Bullet train and construction of a new Parliament building to cut costs, Joshi said, "First you say public spending should be increased and now you are demanding that all these projects should be stopped".

"At least we don't pay to some private trust from PM Relief fund. These people raised similar issues in 2019 election and people have answered," Joshi further said. Reddy said COVID-19 has impacted the incomes of people working in the private sector and so the Prime Minister initiated this bill which entails 30 per cent reduction in ministers' salaries.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said around 70 per cent MPs depend on their salaries and have to take care of every expense through these emoluments alone. He said MPLAD funds are meant for taking care of needy people in their constituencies and are utilised for various things like purchasing ambulances, making small roads and community centres.

"It (MPLAD) should not be suspended for two years. How did you presume that corona will go on for two years? Even if you had to do it you should have reduced it by half to Rs 2.5 crore. My suggestion to the government will be to reduce it to one year and in that one year Rs 2.5 crore fund be kept," he said.

Similarly, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP), V Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP), K Somaprasad (CPI-M), Fauzia Khan (NCP), Veer Singh (BSP), Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) while supporting the reduction in salaries, sought restoration of the MPLAD scheme.

Wilson said the Centre is suspending MPLAD scheme when various infrastructure projects like Central Vista project were still being taken up. Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), while supporting the bill to cut salaries, asked the government to set it priorities properly. He asked if construction of a new Parliament building was necessary when the country was going through a tough phase.

Ram Chandra Prasad Singh (JD-U) sought creation of a special corpus to deal with pandemics in the future. Earlier, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh allowed joint debate on both bills after members of the Upper House, cutting across party lines, suggested that as the contents and purpose of both bills were same, they should be discussed jointly.

Initiating the debate, Rajiv Satav (Cong) welcomed the step towards MPs' salary cuts but questioned the government's move to suspend the MPLAD scheme. "You are talking about the common people and have suspended MPLAD scheme, which was meant for the welfare of people," he said.

Satav said government effort's to tackle the pandemic are a "live example of mismanagement and failure" and no chief ministers were consulted before the lockdown. "In 2014, the GDP growth rate was 7.4 per cent and now it has come to a minus 23.9 per cent," he said, adding, "Instead of being corona free, the country has become employment free (Corona mukt ke jagah Rojgar Mukt ho gaya)”.

Pointing at the PM CARES fund, Satav said "no one knows to whom it is caring”. He also pointed out expenses by the government during the pandemic on projects such as Central Vista, Bullet train and a special Rs 850 crore aircraft for the PM.

Shwait Mallik (BJP) said previous governments had not worked on disaster management. He said all states were consulted by the Centre while imposing the lockdown and PM had considered their suggestions.

Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi said the bill for reduction of members' salaries was decided only by some MPs on whatsapp. A Vijayakumar of AIDMK welcomed both the bills and said the government should clear the arrears of some ongoing projects under MPLAD. Prasanna Acharya (BJD) said MPLAD should not be suspended and all arrears of previous projects be cleared.