Unending: Over Rs110m doled out on current assembly session

Includes salaries, additional travel allowances

PESHAWAR: Whether they graced the K-P Assembly with their presence or remained absent, MPAs and the ministers have been paid. The government has so far doled out over Rs300 million to members of the assembly as well as ministers in salaries and perks during the on-going session. 

The session started in October in 2014 and has been going on for over eight months. Since then the provincial treasury has been bearing the cost of roughly Rs40 million every month on assembly meetings.

The 124 parliamentarians alone have been paid Rs100 million altogether in salaries since the beginning of the session.

Travel allowance

Other than salaries, members of opposition and treasury benches have also been paid an additional amount of Rs4.7 million as travel allowances. Ministers were paid Rs10 million, their advisers Rs1.1 million whereas parliamentary secretaries and their assistants got Rs2.69 million for travelling. Secretaries received the amount apart from the monthly salaries.

The MPAs of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl received the highest amount as travel allowances as compared to others. Abdul Shakoor Khan has received Rs125,000; Mufti Said Janan Rs48,600; Zareen Gul Rs70,800; Shah Hussain Khan Rs59,700; Muhammad Asmatullah Rs42,200; Azam Khan Durrani Rs133,800; Malik Riaz Khan Rs41,600; Noor Salim Malik Rs138,000; Advocate Munawar Khan Rs46,300; Maulana Mufti Fazal Ghafoor Rs89,800; Romana Jalil Rs126,000 and Askar Pervez was paid Rs104,000.

However, it seems perks and payments were not fairly doled out. According to assembly documents, around 80 MPAs who marked their attendance but did not participate in the assembly meeting have also received perks and privileges and daily expenses as those who were present throughout the meetings.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2015.