Bengal Assembly special session adjourns, no discussion on salary hike of ministers, MLAs

Kolkata, Oct 16 (IANS) The special one-day session of the West Bengal Assembly was adjourned within 15 minutes from the time it commenced without any discussion on two Bills relating to the enhancement of the salaries for the minister and legislators of the state.

The speaker Biman Bandopadhyay claimed that the session was adjourned because of the death of a former MLA. However, the leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari said that the death of the former MLA was just an excuse and the real reason behind the adjournment was the absence of the assent of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for the special session.

On Monday afternoon, the state Parliamentary affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay tabled the Bill on enhanced salary for the ministers, and the state minister in charge of finance, Chandrima Bhattacharya placed the Bill on enhanced salary for the MLAs.

However, after the Bills were placed, the Speaker said that there cannot be any discussion on the two Bills since the session will be adjourned after the obituary mentions.

On September 7 this year, the chief minister had announced a big hike in the salaries of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and legislators with the monthly salary being raised by Rs 40,000 a month for each of these three categories.

The announcement created ripples in the state, especially among the state government employees who have been long demanding enhanced Dearness Allowances to be made at par with Central government employees and the arrears accrued on it. BJP has already opposed the proposal to increase the salaries of ministers and MLAs.