SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Government today said it will announce its decision on demands to increase the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and salaries of MLAs before the current Budget session concludes. “As far as I think, as a policy maker, CDF is a convenience given to MLA.
The logic behind it is that if some small issue in your respective constituency is not covered under larger schemes, you can use CDF to get that work done,” Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said while replying to the Budget discussion in the Legislative Assembly .
Dr Drabu was responding to Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmad Gurezi’s directions to the Government to respond to the request by MLAs to increase their salaries and CDF. MLAs, cutting across party lines, signed a representation urging Government to increase their salaries from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2 lakh and CDF from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 3 crore.
“I don’t see hike in CDF as a huge financial burden,” he said. However, he said it need to be examined how it fits in his resolve to build system.
“We will constitute a committee, which will have members from the all paties, including opposition. That committee will look into these matters and submit a report following which the government will make a final decision,” he added. (AGENCIES)
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