The Odisha government has announced a steep hike in salaries and allowances of the panchayat-level representatives including the sarpanches in what appears to be a pre-election sop.

Henceforth, a sarpanch of a panchayat will get a salary of Rs 10,000 instead of the present Rs 2,350 per month. The state government has also announced to increase the annual casual leave of women government employees from 15 days to 25 days.

An announcement to this effect was made by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday. According to the announcement, the president of a Zilla Parishad will get Rs 30,000 as remuneration per month instead of the existing Rs 9,380. The sitting fee and dearness allowance (DA) have been increased from the existing Rs 300 to Rs 600. The sitting fee and DA are given when there is a meeting of the Zilla Parishad.

The vice-president of a Zilla Parishad will receive Rs 20,000 as remuneration per month instead of Rs 7,040. The sitting allowance and DA have also been hiked from Rs 300 to Rs 600.

The members of the Zilla Parishad will get a remuneration of Rs 10,000 each instead of Rs 3,530. They will also avail the sitting allowance of Rs 600.

The chairman of the panchayat samiti will get Rs 15,000 instead of Rs 3,530. The vice-chairman of the panchayat samiti will get Rs 7,500 instead of the existing remuneration of Rs 2,350. The panchayat samiti members will get a remuneration of
Rs 7,500.

The nayeb sarpanches will get Rs 4,000 each instead of the existing Rs 940 as remuneration. The daily allowances of ward members, chairman of panchayat samiti and nayeb sarpanch will be Rs 480 instead of the existing Rs 240.

The state government will bear an additional burden of Rs 162.68 crore on account of the increase in allowances.