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.
Dear Asif,
[quote comment=”2898″]YLH,
I hope you remember me from PNS days. It’s good to see that you were able to survive the beating I gave you few years ago and at the same time it is sad that You still have not lost your habit of making unfounded accusations.
[/quote]
Actually I really don’t, but I know there are several people in the internet community who suffer from what I refer to as the Saddam Hussain Complex and therefore claim victory even after a can of whoopass has been unleashed on their rearends. Such disorientation – as which you’ve displayed- is said to be quite common in such cases.
Now coming to the real issue…
[quote comment=”2898″]As for your bold part “even the most flawed democracy is better than the most benevolent dictatorshipâ€
And before I forget, this report seems to be a (rare) joint effort of Indian and Pakistani brothers, since I have seen Indian versions of this a while ago (Take a Look at this – http://mukeshbansal.rediffiland.com/scripts/xanadu _diary_view.php?postId=1156353058 )
Please read the last para carefully, it says “…For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years : Rs. 8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 cores)….”
Only difference :-
Delhi Instead of Islamabad
MP Instead of MNA
Indian instead of Pakistani.
Also, I think 534 looks awefully close to no. of elected MPs in India which is – 543.
All said, I know for a fact that this is a very realistic figure put up by some folks who did their research well. :)
YLH,
I hope you remember me from PNS days. It’s good to see that you were able to survive the beating I gave you few years ago and at the same time it is sad that You still have not lost your habit of making unfounded accusations. You also have not learnt the ability to argue in a civil manner esp when there is a disagreement.
The point here is not to find the EXACT figures but to show how high-maintanance our elected representatives are and yet there is no accountability.
As for your bold part “even the most flawed democracy is better than the most benevolent dictatorship”, Did you know that Nazi party was democratically elected ?
What I was saying is that the total Rs. 32 lakhs per year figure is probably not very far from reality. In India, the expenses on an MP, as per the official figures themselves, comes to about Rs. 38 lakhs per annum currently. Typical Govt. salaries are similar across the two countries, so it is plausible that it may be the case even for MPs/MNAs, though it is by no means established conclusively in the absence of reliable data.
The figures for each of the heads, on the other hand, seem difficult to believe. For instance, the 200,000 per month salary, plus 100,000 constituency allowance etc. They are not even internally consistent – the numbers add up to more than 32 lakhs.
Oh they are quite far off from reality… evidently. Please see that this is an American table.. which was converted wholesale to Pakistani table by some overzealous “fauji-lover”!