KATHMANDU, Jan 24: The leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives (HoR) is to get a salary of Rs 61 thousand per month and tons of other perks and benefits.
The relevant sections of the Act 2073 on the remuneration and benefits of officials and members of the Federal Parliament and Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 stipulate the perks and benefits of the leader of the opposition party in parliament.
According to Schedule 1 of the Act, the salary of the leader of the opposition party is 60,970 rupees, special allowance is 1,000 rupees, meeting allowance is 1,000 rupees, and communication allowance is 3,000 rupees.
A lawmaker to get Rs 124,000 as monthly salary, allowances
Similarly, the opposition leader also receives housing allowance of Rs 25,608 per month, furniture expenses worth Rs 15,000, private secretariat equipment Rs 17,050, guard house Rs 17,050 per month, vehicle fuel 230 liters per month, lubricant oil (mobil) 5 liters per month, electricity allowance Rs 2000 per month, daily visit allowance 2,500 per month. Similarly, he/she gets travel insurance reimbursement of Rs 1 million, financial assistance of 2.5 Million rupees to his/her family in the case of death.
A week ago, the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat demanding the perks and benefits that the opposition party would get. In response to the same letter, the Parliament Secretariat informed the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party about the provision in the said Act.
The Nepali Congress will be the opposition party in the House of Representatives. Despite winning the most seats in parliament, the Nepali Congress, which did not participate in the government, gave a vote of confidence to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Prime Minister Dahal took the vote of confidence from the House of Representatives on January 10. Some constitutionalists argued that the Nepali Congress should not become the opposition, arguing that the party is in the role of the ruling party after giving the vote of confidence to PM Dahal. The Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party, which did not give the vote of confidence to PM Dahal filed a complaint at the Parliament Secretariat claiming that it was the opposition party.
