CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu: The Government of Tamil Nadu has decided to pay a monthly honorarium, starting from July, to all elected representatives of urban local bodies (ULBs), including mayors. ₹30,000 per month will be given to the Mayors, while Deputy Mayors and Councillors will be paid ₹15,000 and ₹10,000 per month, respectively.
Similarly, the municipal chairperson will be paid ₹15,000, while the vice-chairperson and municipal councillors will be paid ₹10,000 and ₹5,000, respectively. On the other hand, chairpersons of the town panchayats will be paid ₹10,000 and ₹5,000 will be paid to vice chairpersons.
The decision has been taken to improve administrative efficiencies of the urban local bodies in the state, and the announcement in this regard was made on Thursday by the Department of Municipal Administration.
The elected representative of the ULBs also met with the Chief Minister last year, asking him to provide a monthly honorarium stating that being a people’s representative is their full-time job. Chennai Mayor R Priya spoke with The New Indian Express and said, “The move will help women who constitute the majority in the city corporation council as most of them do not have a paying job. This will help them take care of their own expenses. I’m sure corporation councillors will be happy to hear that their long-standing demand has been met.”