Punjab PA adopts bill to raise MPAs' salaries from Rs 83,000 to Rs 0.2 million

Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a private bill seeking raise in salaries of MAPs on Wednesday. The bill was approved by the legislators few hours after it was presented in the House. It was brought for approval after receiving consent from the standing committee. According to the bill, MPAs' salary and incentives have been increased from Rs 83000 to Rs 200, 000 per month.
The basic salary has been raised from Rs 18,000 to Rs 80,000 per month, daily allowance from Rs 1000 to Rs 4000 per month and house rent from Rs 29,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. Besides, the bill has fixed utility allowance from Rs6000 to Rs 20,000 per month and hospitality allowance from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. Amid opposition protest on Wednesday, the government passed Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center Bill 2019 in Punjab Assembly.
All the amendments proposed by the opposition were rejected. Speaking on the occasion, Opposition MPAs Waris Kallu, Khawja Imran Nazir, Khawja Salman Rafique and Malik Ahmed Khan said there is no need of passing the bill in hurry. They said that the government should send the bill to the Select Committee for review.
They proposed the amendment that the government should not run the state-of-the-art institute through bureaucrats. They suggested that technical experts should be included in its management. They said, according to the proposed plan, the institute was run by a trust. PPP parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza said the present government should not repeat the mistakes of previous governments and consider the recommendations of the opposition. While responding to the questions of opposition, Law Minister Raja Basharat and Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid said there is nothing new in the suggestions. All the suggestions of the opposition are already in the bill.
They also said the bill aims at revamping the institute to improve the existing mechanism of service delivery. Basharat said when the government bears all the expenses from buying of land to construction then why the institute should be run by the trust. He said the government should itself run the institute.
Minister Housing Mian Mahmood ur Rasheed said that we are not abandoning the project of PKLIRC like the PML-N government had shelved the projects of Surgical Tower at Mayo Hospital, Cardiac Center in Wazirabad, Dental Hospital in Lahore and supply of water to Muree. The government is only revamping the project.