Salaries of members of Parliament (MPs) will be raised by more than three times with the Union cabinet on Friday approving a Bill which raised their basic pay from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 a month.

However, this is much less than the Rs 80,000 a month recommended by a parliamentary panel, which said members should get more than government secretaries as the former are above them in hierarchy. The Cabinet also approved an increase in office expenses of parliamentarians from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month. The constituency allowance has also been doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month, government sources said.

The limit for interest-free loan for MPs for buying a personal vehicle is hiked four-fold to Rs 4 lakh from the present Rs 1 lakh. Pension benefits are been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. While some MPs objected to the decision saying it would portray the government in poor light in the wake of farmers? suicide and allegations of corruption in Games, others demanded a steeper hike.

Before And After

* Salary: From Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 per month

* Constituency Allowance: From Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month

* Office Expense Allowance : From Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month. (Of this Rs 28,000 will be paid directly to employees including personal secretary and computer operator). Rs 12,000 will be meeting expenses for stationary

* Daily Allowance: From Rs 1000 to Rs 2,000. MPs will get this when Parliament is in session and when they attend committees of which they are members

* Ministers will get this every day of the month irrespective of whether Parliament is in session or not

* Air Travel: Unchanged. 34 free flight tickets

* Telephone Calls: 1.5 lakh free calls

* Unlimited train journeys for spouse by First Class/ Executive Class; 8 free flight tickets for spouse

* Road mileage travel rate an MP can claim increased from Rs 13 per km to Rs 16

* Pension: From Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. Increase of Rs 1,500 per additional year after five years. Earlier, increase per additional year was Rs 800

* Free electricity upto 50,000 units per year

* Free water upto 4000 kiloliters per year

* Furniture upto Rs 60,000 ceiling

* Loan of upto Rs 4 lakh for purchase of vehicle. Earlier it was Rs one lakh

* Since the salary will be computed from the beginning of the 15th Lok Sabha, all MPs will get arrears for the last 14 or 15 months