Shillong July 23: Three amendment bills proposed to increase the salary of chief executive member, deputy chief executive member, chairman, deputy chairman, executive members and members of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) were introduced on the first day of the Council’s summer session on Tuesday.

The bills – The KHADC Chairman’s and Deputy Chairman’s and members of the Executive Committee (Salaries and Allowances) (Eleventh Amendment) Bill, 2019, The KHADC (Leader of Opposition) (Salaries and Allowances) (Third Amendment) Bill, 2019, The KHADC Members’ (Salaries and Allowances) (Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2019 were introduced by Deputy CEM, Pynïaid Sing Syiem in-charge finance.

If these amendment bills are approved by the governor, the basic salary of the CEM will increase from Rs 39,900 to Rs 1,06,900 per month and his house rent from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. In total, the CEM’s salary will jump from Rs 44,900 to Rs 1,26,900 per month.

The basic salary of the Deputy CEM, Chairman, Leader of Opposition will also increase from Rs 38,570 to Rs 1,03,300 per month while their house rent will go up from Rs 4,500 to Rs 19,000 per month. In total their monthly salary will increase from Rs 43,070 to Rs 1,22,300 per month.

Similarly the basic salary of Deputy Chairman and Executive Members will go up from Rs 37,240 to Rs 99,800 per month and their house rent would go up from Rs 3,500 to Rs 17,000 per month. This means that the total salary has been hiked from Rs 40,740 to Rs 1,16,800 per month.

The basic salary of members of the council has also been increased from Rs 33,250 to Rs 89,100 per month and their fixed travelling allowance from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. In total, the salary of the members has been hiked from Rs 38,250 to Rs 1,09,100 per month.

The deputy CEM said that the formula for hiking the salary was considered by multiplying 2.68 times the basic salary, in line with the formula applied by the Meghalaya fifth pay commission to the state government employees.

The salary hike will be with retrospective from April 1, 2019.

He also said that at present Rs 11,93,510 per month is being spent only for the salary of all members of the Council. However if the proposed salary hike is approved, the Council would incur an expenditure of Rs 34,07,400 per month and over Rs 4 crore annually.