Maharashtra government more than doubles honorarium for corporators

Mumbai city news: The decision was taken considering inflation and demands made at a conference held in Mumbai last year

The Maharashtra government has hiked the monthly honorarium of elected representatives to municipal bodies in the state, including the Mumbai civic body — Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — by double and more than double in some cases. The government has for the first time decided to determine honorarium for the corporators based on the category of the civic bodies. For Mumbai, the honorarium of a corporator has been hiked from Rs10,000 to Rs 25,000 — a rise of 150%.

According to a government resolution by the state urban development department (UDD), a monthly honorarium given to the corporators will now be based on the class of the civic body. The BMC is the only municipal body that comes under A+ category. (HT)

The decision was taken considering inflation and demands made at a conference held in Mumbai last year.

According to a government resolution by the state urban development department (UDD), a monthly honorarium given to the corporators will now be based on the class of the civic body. In Maharashtra, municipal corporations are divided in to five categories — A+, A, B, C, and D on the basis of their population and per capita income. The BMC is the only municipal body that comes under A+ category.

With the decision, corporators of A+ municipal corporation will now get a honorarium of Rs25,000 a month. For A class civic bodies, corporators will get an honorarium of 20,000 (166% rise), B class — Rs15,000 (100% rise), while C and D class honorarium for corporators will be Rs10,000 a month (33% rise).

Except Mumbai, all the other corporators from rest of the municipal bodies were getting Rs7,500 a month as honorarium from 2010. It included phone, bills, stationery and postage. In 2008, the honorarium for Mumbai corporators was hiked to Rs10,000 a month, said a senior official from the urban development department. A resolution for rise in the monthly honorarium of the corporators was passed at the Mayor Conference held in Mumbai on June 29, 2016, suggesting Rs 25,000 for Mayor, Rs 20,000 for deputy mayor and Rs15,000 for corporators across the state. The resolution was sent to the state government for consideration. Instead, the government decided to determine honorarium of the corporators based on their categories.

Other than this, a Mumbai corporator gets Rs150 for attending each sitting of the civic house (not more than Rs600 per month) and for corporators from other civic bodies ,it is Rs 100 (not more than Rs 400 per month).