No increase in benefits of Senate chairman, deputy chairman in new bill: Sanjrani
Pakistan
Says only old act of 1975 was rectified and corrected as per decisions of the committees concerned
ISLAMABAD (APP) - Senate chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on Monday clarified the media reports about the the salaries, allowances and Privileges Bill 2023 of members, chairman and opposition leader of the Senate.
In a clarification in the upper house of parliament on some news reports being published in some media sections, the Senate chairman said such reports were not based on solid facts and there was wrong information being communicated about this bill. He said not a rupee was for the benefit of the Senate chairman, deputy chairman or any member. He added only old act of 1975 was rectified as per the decisions of the committees from time to time.
He said that as per bill, the monthly expenses of the chairman or deputy chairman office was Rs6,000, which had been increased up to Rs50,000. He however said the chairman or deputy chairman never used this amount.
He said a step was proposed for the residence of the chairman or deputy chairman as at present, the chairman was residing in the place of Ministry of Housing and Works and there was no official residence under the Senate secretariat.
Sanjrani said the travelling allowance of only Rs5,000 had been proposed against Rs75 for the chairman or deputy chairman besides telephone line for the Senate chairman on availing the privilege of acting or vice president when required. He said the daily allowance of the Senate chairman had been proposed to increase from Rs1,750 top Rs10,000.
The chairman added besides PIA now other airline companies had been included for getting air tickets while per kilometre charges on PIA for the Senate chairman had been revised from Rs2 per kilometre.
The chairman said no change in family medical was made and added that the compensation amount for any victim as per privilege of the chairman had been proposed to increase from Rs300,000 to Rs10 million.
He said the Senate also proposed to increase discretionary grant for deserving from Rs600,000 to Rs1,200,000 for the chairman and Rs300,000 to Rs600,000 for deputy chairman. He added the Senate also proposed to revise per KM charges on road use for the chairman.
He said the bill also defined the other privileges and allowances of the Senate members. The chairman said this bill was presented with an objective to make clarity on the matter without getting any financial benefit.
