Maharashtra to cut salaries of all its MLAs by 30% for the entire year

• Maharashtra Cabinet approved a proposal to cut MLA salaries by 30% for a year.
  
• This decision came after the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh passed a resolution suspending the MLAs fund for one year.
  
• Maharashtra is the epicenter of the disease with 1135 Coronavirus positive cases — with 72 deaths, as on April 9.
  

Maharashtra Cabinet approved a proposal for 30% salary cut for all Members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) for a year today. This pay cut will be applicable from the month of April and there are as many as 288 MLAs in the state.

This decision came after the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh passed a resolution suspending the MLAs fund for one year. This will help them add ₹1,500 crore for Covid-19 fund.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra along with Telangana, Odisha, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh announced pay cuts for government employees to back up the state economies amid the Coronavirus outbreak.

Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar then said that the state government employees — including the Chief Minister, MLAs and members of state legislative council — will have to forfeit 60% of their salaries in March in view of the global pandemic.

"The salaries of Class I and II will be cut by 50% while that of Class III employees will be cut by 25%. There will be no cut in the salaries of remaining classes in the state bureaucracy," Pawar said.

Pawar said that the economy has been affected due to Coronavirus and cutting down on resources due to lockdown is only making it worse. “I hope the public representatives will cooperate with the state finance department as a strong financial support is required for the state in this ongoing fight against coronavirus,” he added.

Maharashtra is the epicenter of the disease with 1135 Coronavirus positive cases — with 72 deaths, as on April 9.

India has 6373 cases in all, and is trying hard to stop the epidemic from spreading from Stage 2 to Stage 3, which is when community spread will be rampant. As of now, the government is hoping to arrest the disease within these hotspots and ensure unabated spreading does not occur. It is also considering extending the 21-day lockdown which is expected to end on April 14.

SEE ALSO: Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh join the list of states which cut government employee pay