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60 MPs offered big incentive for development work
Some sixty Government parliamentarians are being told to choose between an existing Rs. 200,000 monthly traveling allowance and a luxury Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) for which the State will need to pay a rental of Rs. 590,000 a month for them to carry out development work.
These MPs, including some Ministers, head Development Councils under each Divisional Secretariat division. The Rs. 200,000 allowance is on top of the traveling allowances paid to MPs and besides the Duty Free vehicles issued to them. No questions are asked on the disbursement of the allowance.
The traveling allowances of MPs vary depending on the distance they have cover within their constituencies. On an average they receive Rs. 75,000 a month. In the case of ministers, they are paid Rs. 175,000 a month.
When the issue came up for discussion among ministers recently, it was pointed out that the MPs had to travel to inaccessible areas and encountered “difficulties”. After much discussion on the matter, MPs have now been offered a luxury four wheel-drive SUV at a monthly rental of Rs. 590,000 to be paid by the State. In such an event, MPs heading the Development Councils have been told they would have to forego the Rs. 200,000 allowance. Now, Media and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gayantha Karunatilleke has been tasked to find out the preferences of the MPs before a final decision could be made.
Some MPs, Government sources said, have sought to place a condition – that they be permitted to purchase the SUV’s five years after use at the depreciated value. That would mean they would become the recipients of two vehicles from the Government, the sources said.