Dhaka: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was placed in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on Sunday in an amended form, where salaries and other allowances of the lawmakers were made almost double.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haque placed the bill with the proposal for raising the salaries and other benefits according to the eight pay scales for the government employees. The cabinet endorsed the draft bill on 7 September 2015, reports BSS.

The draft bill said the salary of each MP will be Taka 55,000 instead of Taka 27,500, expenditure allowances were raised from Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000, daily allowance to Taka 7,50 from 300, discretionary fund as Taka 5,00,000 from Tk 3,00,000, monthly expenses in the electoral areas to Tk 12,500 from existing Tk 7,500, transport allowance (monthly) Tk 70,000 from Tk 40,000, internal travel allowance (annually) Tk 1,20,000 from Tk 75,000, monthly laundry allowance Tk 15,000 from 1,000 and the allowances for cookeries and others were hiked to Tk 6,000 from Tk 4,000.

The salaries and other allowances and facilities were fixed according to the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) Order, 1973, the minister told the House saying that the salaries would be effective from 1 July 2015 and the allowances from 1 July 2016.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury chaired the House. Later the bill was sent to the concerned parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny and asked to report back by seven days.