'Local body representatives to be treated with respect'

A day after giving representatives of urban and rural local bodies a hefty pay hike, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said his government will treat them with due respect.

He told the legislative council that Telangana stands second in the country in paying high wages to sarpanches.

The chief minister said the previous government neglected the public representatives of local bodies and promised to provide the best possible facilities to them.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, said the state has 15,000 sarpanches and Mandal Parishad Territorial Committee (MPTC) members.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government on Friday fixed the monthly honorarium of zilla parishad chairpersons at Rs.one lakh, against the existing Rs.7,500.

The state has nine zilla parishads.

Representatives of the local bodies have hailed the massive hike in their salaries and thanked the chief minister.

The government also increased the honorarium of mayors to Rs.50,000 from the existing Rs.14,000.

The deputy mayor will now get Rs.25,000 against existing Rs.8,000. Each corporator will be paid Rs.6,000 against the existing Rs.4,000.

The honorarium of sarpanch has been revised from Rs.1,500 to Rs.5,000. The salaries of Zilla Parishad Territorial Committee (ZPTC) members, MPTC members and other representatives of rural and urban bodies were also hiked.

The hike, which will come into effect from April, will put an additional annual burden of Rs.82 crore on state exchequer.