Odisha Govt Hikes Remuneration and Allowances of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Other Civic Body Representatives

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced a hike in the remuneration and allowances of the mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen, vice chairmen, corporators, and councilors of five municipal corporations, 48 municipalities and 68 notified area councils (NACs) in the state.

This increase has been made following the recommendations of the Fifth State Finance Commission and amendments in Odisha Municipal Corporation Rules-2004, and Odisha Municipal Rules-1953.

While the mayors of municipal corporations were earlier getting Rs 8,000 as remuneration, this has been revised to Rs 50,000 per month. Similarly, the monthly remuneration of deputy mayors has been increased from Rs 5000 to Rs 20,000. The remuneration of chairman of municipality has been increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 15,000, while the remuneration of the vice chairman has been increased from Rs 1,200 to Rs 10,000.

The Chief Minister announced an increase in the monthly remuneration of the NAC chairman from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 and the monthly gratuity of the vice chairman from Rs 800 to Rs 7,500.
The corporators of municipal corporation were getting Rs 7,00 as allowance per meeting and now it has been increased to Rs 2,000. The allowance of councilors of various municipalities and NACs has been increased from Rs 150 to Rs 500. Apart from this, the members of the Standing Committee of the municipal Corporation will get a daily allowance of Rs 200 during the meeting.

The Chief Minister has also announced the introduction of ex-gratia assistance to the elected representatives of the urban areas. In case of death, this amount of assistance is kept at Rs 2 lakh, while in case of total and partial disability, it is kept at Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively.
For this, the state government will bear an annual expenditure of Rs 4.76 crore.

It is worth noting that now 1,696 councilors and 244 corporators are serving in various municipal corporations, municipalities and NACs in the state.