Bihar govt spending Rs 4.94 cr for giving pension to 991 MLAs

New Delhi: At a time when the economy of the country is not in a good shape, the former legislators, including tainted as well as jail-term serving lawmakers, in Bihar, are having a 'gala time' as the state government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is spending Rs 4.94 crore every month on the pension of 991 MLAs.

The startling revelation has come to the notice in an RTI reply which was filled by Shiv Prakash Rai. The RTI activist had sought information regarding the pension of MLAs under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

Among the tainted MLAs, who are getting huge pension include former MP Prabhunath Singh, who is serving a sentence in the murder case, RJD's strongman Rajvallabh Yadav, who is serving a life-term in a rape case of a minor, Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was convicted in the fodder scam, former MP Jagdish Sharma, Anand Mohan and Vijay Krishna.

As per the pensions scheme in Bihar, an MLA or MLC gets Rs 35,000 as pension every month.

However, one has to remain an MLA for at least one year to avail pension scheme. Notably, the pension amount of an MLA automatically increases by Rs 3,000 every year, which means that the pension amount of an MLA becomes higher if the legislator remains seated for a longer period of time.

As per the RTI revelation, there are 12 politicians in the state who are getting over Rs 1 lakh pension every month and the number of politicians getting pension ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh is 70 and there are 254 former MLAs and MLCs who are getting a pension ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 every month.

You may be shocked to know that nine-time MLA Ramai Ram is getting Rs 1,46,000 as pension every month from the Bihar government.

Besides Ram, the fodder scam accused Jagdish Sharma gets a pension of Rs 1,25,000 per month, and Lalu Prasad, who is serving a sentence in the fodder scam case, gets a pension of Rs 89,000 every month from the state government.

The politicians, who have also been members of Parliament, also get a separate pensions from Lok Sabha.

While talking to Millennium Post, the RTI activist Rai said that the information provided by Bihar Assembly Secretariat has it that there are several dependents of MLAs, who have passed away, are also getting the pension.

"In the list provided by the Bihar assembly secretariat, it has been stated that the state government is still paying the pension of late Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha to his wife Meera Sinha, who had passed away in March 2021," Rai said.

"Though late Meera Sinha's son and Road Construction Minister Nitin Nabin has claimed that he had requested the discontinuation of pension of his mother soon after her death in March 2021, the Bihar assembly secretariat has mentioned the Nabin's mother in the list of pensioners in the reply to the RTI dated July 1, 2021, which means the pension has been paid to the deceased," he said, adding that there are a few other names, who have expired about five years ago and their names are still in the list of pensioners.