{"id":52943,"date":"2016-03-14T16:16:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T22:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=52943"},"modified":"2016-03-14T09:06:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:06:02","slug":"windfall-for-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/03\/14\/windfall-for-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Windfall for MP\u00b4s –\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0P.A.Samaraweera, Melbourne<\/u><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

According to a\u00a0media report the govt and the opposition had approved a range of allowances for MP\u00b4s. Based on this, \u00a0MP\u00b4s are to be paid Rs. 75,000 to maintain an office, Rs. 50,000 for calls, and Rs. 50,000 as a housing allowance. They are\u00a0also to be paid Rs 2500 for attending meetings\u00a0and Rs 4000 for being present at committees of Parliament. \u00a0Both the govt and the JT opposition had unanimously\u00a0agreed to a range of allowances for MP\u00b4s and\u00a0they work hand in glove when it comes to getting funds to their pockets.<\/p>\n

In addition to these they are also entitled to stationery, security, car permits, 5 star meals from the Parliamentary Restaurant etc.\u00a0\u00a0Of course they argue that they\u00a0 are \u00b4dedicated to serve the nation\u00b4 and therefore entitled to these benefits. It is common knowledge that \u00a0as long as the ladle is in their hands they will serve themselves !<\/p>\n

Then it appears that Ministers have other perks as well. Because, recently when a Minister went to Singapore for medical treatment the report was that it\u00b4s costs were to be paid by the govt.\u00a0 The irony is that the surgery he went for could have been done easily in Sri Lanka. So it is not known whether there is a \u00b4Govt Health Fund\u00b4 for Ministers.<\/p>\n

With regard to use of public funds, there was an interesting story in the media. A spa had been opened by a Minister, from Ministry funds. \u00a0May be because he thought hardworking Ministers have to rest their mind and body ! According to the report, the spa was under the guise of a Physical Exercise Centre\u00a0 for therapeutic treatment. It had been managed by his wife and young females as therapists from his electorate , paid by his Ministry. And he is of the opinion that\u00a0there should be one in\u00a0every electorate.<\/p>\n

Minister\u00b4s and MP\u00b4s may claim that they are \u00a0 \u00b4dedicated to serve the\u00a0people \u00b4. But the burden of funding additional allowances fall on the taxpayers. And people are complaining about the rising cost of living. Farmers are going on protest marches to get fertilisers. These are swept under the carpet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0P.A.Samaraweera, Melbourne According to a\u00a0media report the govt and the opposition had approved a range of allowances for MP\u00b4s. Based on this, \u00a0MP\u00b4s are to be paid Rs. 75,000 to maintain an office, Rs. 50,000 for calls, and Rs. 50,000 as a housing allowance. They are\u00a0also to be paid Rs 2500 for attending meetings\u00a0and Rs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drpasamaraweera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}