The Bill to hike MLAs’ allowances passed by the state legislative assembly on Thursday, comes at a time when the unemployment rate in the State is the high, teachers are not being paid their salaries in time, seafarers are fighting for their pension rights, the country’s economy is down, and the common man is struggling to eke out a living.In such a bleak scenario, our crorepatti MLAs should have set us an example of a frugal lifestyle by forgoing the proposed increase in allowances that have put an additional burden of Rs 19 crore on the state exchequer. Instead of increasing the petrol allowances of MLAs from 300 to 500 litres per month, a state -run coach to ferry MLAs to the State assembly and back, would have been ideal to reduce the extra petrol costs incurred by them. Unfortunately, the overriding greed for perks and freebies continues as part of the rights and privileges expected in our VIP culture.
