July 9, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 8,1424

DHAKA, July 8: The Bangladesh Parliament, on Monday passed a bill almost doubling the perks enjoyed by 300 legislators.

The new schedule of allowances for the lawmakers would burden the public exchequer with Tk 5.3 crore in additional expenditure on top of the existing Tk 6.03 crore spent on MPs’ allowances and perks.

The newly-enacted provisions give each lawmaker monthly raises of Tk 1,000 in sumptuary allowance, Tk 4,500 in office expenditure, Tk 3,500 in constituency allowance, and Tk 2,000 in telephone expenses.

Legislators are now also entitled to an extra Tk 25,000 per annum in discretionary allowance, while Tk 20,000 is added to the yearly travel allowance afforded to each MP.