Bhubaneswar, Mar 13 (Representative) In a major development, the Odisha government on Wednesday hiked the monthly remuneration and other allowances of the members of the civic bodies in the state. Official sources said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has hiked the monthly remuneration and allowances of the mayor, deputy mayor chairman, deputy chairman, corporator, and councilor of the five municipal corporations, 48 municipalities, and 68 Notified Area Councils (NAC) in the state. The remuneration and allowances of the members of the civic bodies were hiked after amending the recommendations of the 5th State Finance Commission, the Odisha Municipal Corporation Rules 2004, and the Odisha Municipality Rules 1953.
As per the decision, the mayor of the municipal corporation, who was receiving a monthly remuneration of Rs 8,000 per month, will now get Rs 50,000. The remuneration of the Deputy Mayor has been hiked from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. The monthly remuneration of the Municipal Council Chairman and Deputy Chairman has been hiked to Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively. Earlier, they were getting Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,200, respectively. The remuneration of NAC chairpersons has been increased from Rs. 1000 to Rs 10,000, and that of the Deputy Chairman from Rs 800 to Rs 7500. The corporators of the Municipal Corporation will now get Rs 2000 as an allowance for attending each meeting instead of the Rs 700 paid to them earlier, while the daily meeting allowance of the councilors of the Municipality and NAC has been enhanced from Rs 150 to Rs 500.
The members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation will also receive a daily allowance of Rs 200 for attending the meeting. The state government also announced an ex-gratia amount for the elected representatives of the civic bodies. In cases of death, Rs 2 lakh ex gratia will be paid, while in cases of complete disability and partial disability, the ex gratia amount will be Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively. The state government will incur an additional annual expenditure of Rs 4,76,52,000 for enhancing the remuneration and allowances of the members of the civic body. Official sources said that at present, the state has 1696 councillors in various municipalities and NACs and 244 corporators in municipal corporations.