Contrary to their promises not to obtain salaries and other expenses, all NPP MPs have claimed the full allocation for January 2025, The Leader online news portal reports.
The monthly expenses paid by the Finance Division of Parliament alone for the Cabinet led by the Prime Minister and its deputy ministers exceed Rs. 15 million. Meanwhile, Rs. 5 million has been allocated for office expenses, Rs. 2.5 million for telephone expenses, and Rs. 6.1 million for fuel expenses.
For this, Rs. 750,000 has been paid separately as additional transportation allowance in addition to the attendance allowance.
The total expenditure of the MPs exceeds Rs. 72 million️
New MPs are entitled to a monthly allowance of Rs. 54,285, and according to the monthly expenditure report of the Parliament, all these allowances have been received by all MPs. The total expenditure is Rs. 9,337,020.
As an office allowance of Rs. 100,000 each, one hundred and seventy-two ordinary MPs have received Rs. 172,000,000, and the Parliament has paid a total fuel expense of Rs. 23 million for all those MPs.
In addition, 86 lakhs have been paid as a telephone allowance of 50 thousand rupees each, and an additional amount of 25 lakhs and 80 thousand rupees has been paid as transportation expenses.
This includes an attendance allowance of one thousand rupees each, a a driver allowance of 3,500 rupees per day per MP, and payments for participation in special committees, and another 3 million rupees.
Accordingly, it is clear that all those who have been elected to Parliament by the people from the North to the South, from the East to the West, regardless of their rank, social class, or economic level, have been provided by Parliament with all the allowances and privileges they are legally entitled to.
The accounts department of Parliament confirms that these have been paid to the relevant members of Parliament.
People of this country have a right to know whether they are for their own consumption or are credited to a party fund, as previously stated. This is because public money should be considered public money, regardless of which fund it is credited to through the members of parliament.
(With the inputs from an article published in the Leader.)