Guest Post by Awab Alvi (Teeth Maestro)
I have recently come across a few interesting facts regarding the pay scale and fringe benefits enjoyed by each member of our National Assembly (here).
It is more than you might expect. Rs. 32,000,000 per MNA per year; or Rs.8,54,40,000,000 5,47,20,000,000 for all 534 342 MNAs for the 5 year tenure. Democracy, even cosmetic democracy, does not come cheap!
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Pakistani MNA’s Salary and Government Perks
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Monthly Salary
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Rs. 120,000 to 200,000
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Expense for Constitution per month
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Rs.100,000
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Office expenditure per month
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Rs.140,000
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Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km)
(For a visit to ISLAMABAD & return: 6000 km) |
Rs.48,000
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Daily BETA during Assembly meets
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Rs.500
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Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train
(All over PAKISTAN) |
Free
Unlimited |
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Charge for Business Class in flights
(With wife or P.A.) |
Free for 40
trips / year |
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Rent for Govt hostel any where
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Free
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Electricity costs at home
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Free up to 50,000 units
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Local phone call charge
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Free up to 1,70,000 calls.
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TOTAL expense for a MNA per year
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Rs.32,000,000
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TOTAL expense for 5 years
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Rs.1,60,000,000
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For
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Rs. 5,47,20,000,000 |
Keep in mind that these numbers are only the official estimates. You can imagine for yourself the unofficial sums easily acquired by a man in such a position.
Why are we wasting so much of money on a ghost assembly whose job is to do … NOTHING. They have no powers but quite simply play the game as it create a silver lining in their pockets both in terms of official perks and all the unofficial perks they
must be enjoying.
The current batch of 534 MNA’s have done nothing but bash their tables or quite often staging a walk-out in protest. I have occasionally had the displeasure to watch this circus on TV and it appears that these illiterate hooligans quite often simply don’t understand the issue at hand let alone comprehend its importance for its benefits or disadvantages on behalf which may impact the very constituents who elected him into office in the first place. (For earlier ATP posts on some interesting MNA behavior, see here and here).
Dr. Awab Alvi blogs as Teeth Maestro and is one of the people behind Help-Pakistan.com and Bloggers.pk.
There is one issue where all our parliamentarians are always unanimous regardless of their party affiliation i.e the increase in their salaries. This bill normally gets pass without any debate and walkout.
Despite having my doubts on accounting in the table, I do agree with the general idea behind this post i.e. ‘karwaaN ke dil se ehsaas-e-ziyaaN jaata raha’. Worse is the province of Baluchistan. I believe everyone in the provincial assembly there is either a minister or heads a steering committee of some kind. In BB’s first govt 30 out of total 40 MPs of Baluchistan were Ministers. I wonder what sin the other 10 must’ve committed to not deserve a ministry :)
I fully agree. An imperfect democracy is better than a perfect dictatorship. But, I think accusing the poster for malicious intentions is unfair, the source is a newspaper and it is given and he has apologized for repeating the errors. Also, the 6000km will probably not come from US otherwise will not be km. It is probably the total mileage over the year that can be used, which is how a lot of govt. accounting of travel happens in Pakistan, so it could be a quota.
But a part of democracy is also transparency, so we SHOULD know what the MNAs cost. If not this, then what.
More important, I DO NOT think the numbers are high at all. Aap zara sochiaye, NONE of these numbers is unreasonable (I don’t know what ‘constitution’ money is for). Government officials perks and military officials perks are quite similar. I DO want our elected officials to have a decent living, otherwise it will be disrespectful to the office.
If these numbers are wrong, I will like to know what the right numbers are. If they are drastically lower, then I will worry because that is recipe for corruption.
The figures, even if they are questionable, are eye opener to anyone. Both the government and opposition are partners in this corruption. I blame the opposition more than govt as opposition’s sole purpose is to work against the govt., nobody is interested in development of the nation. They don’t give a damn about their constituencies.
If army has to rule the country, why keep the facade of civil govt. Who will save the country from this gang rape… zara sochiyeh
It is amazing how we love to get off track… ourselves.
First the army disrupts the constitutional process.
With the erosion of the constitutional process, goes the process of accountability and courts.
Therefore serious problems become incurable flaws. The parliamentary governments succumb to these incurable flaws.
Army supporters come back and quote the incurable flaws as a result of civilian constitutional democracy itself.
Wow! Is there no end to the nation’s self delusion?
There is a simple (and the only) solution to all our ills. Make a pact that no matter how bad things get, realise- realise that even the most flawed democracy is better than the most benevolent dictatorship.
It is clear from the number of MNAs, the number of miles (Washington DC is approximately 6000 miles i.e. 3000 miles each way back and forth from each extremity of the United States of American)etc that some overzealous Fauji lover concocted the whole thing by copying and pasting some analagous Congress figures…
Pakistan will only survive if we put our faith in the constitution… there is NO other way.