AAP government to bear expenses of MLAs opening offices

The AAP government in Delhi will bear the cost of opening and maintaining offices by legislators who have been asked to identify the land in their respective constitutes in the national capital.

In a letter to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Vijender Gupta, assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has conveyed it was in agreement to the concept of establishing offices of assembly constituencies in each seat.

The letter was written on June 25.

Interestingly, about a dozen of AAP legislators have demanded hike in their salaries, due to official expenses in their constituencies.

Of the 70 Delhi legislators, 67 are from the Aam Aadmi Party and the remaining three belong to the BJP.

The letter said that "the office should be approximately about 700-1,000 square feet in size and located at a convenient location which is easily accessible to the public".

"Office infrastructure like staff, furniture equipment like computer, fax etc. will be provided by the Delhi assembly Secretariat," it added.