MLAs: Poor country cousins of the MPs

new delhi: poor mlas. compared to what mps will get after the hike in salary and allowances, members of many legislative assemblies can find cause to grumble about their pay-packets. kerala mlas, for example, got a basic salary of only rs 300 till a couple of years back. true, there are other perks: a rs 75 daily allowance, rs 3,000 minimum travel allowance a month, a telephone allowance of rs 2,000 a month, free medical treatment, and rail travel coupons worth rs 35,000 a year.but kerala mlas still take home only a modest pay-packet, compared even to fellow-legislators in other states. the basic monthly salary of an mla varies widely from state to state, though everywhere it is the allowances that seem to matter. he gets rs 300 in kerala, rs 650 in west bengal, rs 850 in uttar pradesh, rs 1,000 in sikkim, rs 1,400 in tripura, rs 2,000 in tamil nadu, rs 3,000 in rajasthan and rs 3,500 in karnataka. all figures are from a compilation by the lok sabha secretariat. it was updated last in 1999, but usually many years pass before salaries and allowances for mlas and mps are revised. going by the lok sabha publication, karnataka legislators also draw a rs 400 daily allowance. allowances to cover expenditures like telephone, postage, and secretarial assistance total rs 7,000 a month. other perks include rs 30,000 every year to cover rail and air journeys anywhere in india. like mlas in many other states, karnataka legislators travel free on state-owned buses and they also claim reimbursement -- at a fixed per kilometre rate -- if they choose to travel by car on official work. states like nagaland and arunachal pradesh go a step further. nagaland mlas get a car or a jeep each for official use during their entire five-year term. the government pays for its driver (rs 1,200 a month) and maintenance (upto rs 2,400 a month). and for their private vehicles, they get rs 20,000 a term for `major repairs.' arunachal pradesh mlas are paid rs 40,000 petrol money every year for their official car, rs 1,200 a month for its driver and ``reasonable lump sum'' for its maintenance. and like state government officials, they also draw a travel allowance. arunachal also provides furnished cottages -- free except for water and electricity charges -- in the state capital for its mlas. orissa gives flats for rs 20 per month. uttar pradesh offers rent-free accommodation, or rs 300 per month as a house rent allowance. but in many states, legislators make do with rooms in mla hostels when they are in the capital to attend a session. rents can be as low as re one per day for a furnished room (tripura) or rs 3.50 per day for a family suite (madhya pradesh). in many assemblies, mlas get loans for buying a house or a car. in almost every state, they get medical care free. most assemblies want the mlas to be on the move, see the rest of the country -- with their spouses if they so wish. nothing matches the amount of free air and rail travel entitled to mps, but in uttar pradesh, mlas get rail travel coupons worth rs 85,000 every year. rajasthan and punjab mlas can spend upto rs 50,000 a year on rail travel. maharashtra mlas can travel upto 30,000 kilometres free.