- Rs13b allocated for Parliamentarians including Chairman, Deputy Chairman Senate, NA Speaker, Deputy Speaker and members of both houses
ISLAMABAD: Amid severe financial crunch, the federal government has proposed an increase in salary, allowances and other privileges of parliamentarians.
Overall, the federal government has allocated Rs13 billion in budget for Parliamentarians including Chairman and Deputy Chairman Senate, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and members of lower and upper house of the Parliament.
The highest increase has been made in the salaries, allowances as well as travel and transportation expenses of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Senate.
The Federal government has allocated Rs264 million in budget for Speaker and Deputy Speaker National Assembly for the next year 2023-24, increasing by Rs173 million as the Finance division had allocated Rs91.3 million budget during the current fiscal year for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker National Assembly.
While making an increase of Rs126 million, the budget of National Assembly members surged to Rs 1.48 billion in 2023-24 from Rs1.35 billion in 2022-23.
Document shows that the government has also increased the budget for the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly which surged to Rs4.7 million in 2023-24 from Rs3.87 million in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, the government has also raised the budget for Chairman Kashmir Committee by Rs2.4 million to Rs11.9 million in 2023-24, against Rs9.4 million in 2022-23.
Similarly, the government has also allocated Rs117 million in the budget for Chairman and Deputy Chairman Senate for next fiscal year, recording an increase of Rs49 million.
The revised allocated budget for Chairman and Deputy Chairman Senate is recorded at Rs68.9 million during the current year 2022-23.
Documents show that the government has allocated Rs651 million budget in 2023-24 for ‘Members of the Senate’ against the total revised allocation of Rs563 million in 2022-23. This shows an increase of Rs87.6 million in Pay and other allowances of Senators.
The document shows that the budget of the Leader of the House and Opposition leader in the Senate has also surged to Rs6.1 million and Rs7.59 million respectively.
