On the last day of the Himachal Pradesh budget session, the salaries, allowances and pension of the members of the State Legislative Assembly has been increased by 24 per cent.

For this, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu presented three Bills in the Assembly on Friday, which were passed by voice vote by the members of the ruling party and the opposition in the Assembly on Friday, amid applause.

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The increase has been effect after nine years and it has been decided that the salary, allowances and pension of the MLAs will increase after every five years.

This increase in the salaries, allowances, and pension of dignitaries has been linked to the price index.

This increase will now put an additional financial burden of about Rs 24 crore every year on the state treasury.

There will be an additional burden of Rs 20 to 22 crore due to the increase in the salaries, allowances and pension of MLAs and former MLAs, Rs 35 lakh due to the increase in the salary and allowances of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, and Rs 2 crore due to the increase in the salary and allowances of the Chief Minister and Ministers.

The three Bills passed on Friday include the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s Salary Amendment Bill 2025, Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Members Salaries and Pension Amendment Bill 2025, and Ministers Salary and Allowances Amendment Bill 2025.

According to the Bills passed, the salary of the chief minister has been increased from Rs.95,000 to Rs.1.15 lakh, the salary of the Speaker has been increased from Rs.80,000 to Rs.95,000, the salary of the Deputy Speaker has been increased from Rs.75,000 to Rs.92,000, the salary of Cabinet Ministers has been increased from Rs.80,000 to Rs.95,000, the salary of State Ministers has been increased from Rs.78,000 to Rs.93,000, the salary of Deputy Ministers has been increased from Rs.75,000 to Rs.80,000, and the salary of MLAs has been increased from Rs.55,000 to Rs.70,000.

Furthermore, the hospitality allowance of all these categories has also been increased. The pension of former MLAs has been increased from Rs.36,000 to Rs.50,000.

Sukhu, in response to the discussion on these Bills, said after the Bills passed, the government has scrapped the allowances given for telephone, electricity and water bills. Not only this, the telephone allowance given to former MLAs has also been done away with.

Now, the MLAs will get only constituency allowance and office allowance.

The chief minister said the salary of MLAs, ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and, chief minister should have been increased long ago according to inflation.

He said that the MLAs had approached him to apprise their grievances. Understanding their pain, he had decided to increase their salary and allowances, said Sukhu.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan said that the salary is the only source of income for MLAs in Himachal. In such a situation, it is necessary to increase their salaries.

He further said that the salary of the MLAs is not high according to the responsibility.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said people’s expectations from the MLAs have increased a lot and in such a situation, an increase in their salary was very much necessary.