President, PM, MPs to take a one-year pay cut to fund govt's efforts to fight COVID-19

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar briefing reporters after the Union Cabinet meeting on April 6.  (Photo: PIB/screenshot)

• Union Cabinet approves temporary suspension of MPLAD (Member of Parliament local Area Development) fund scheme during 2020-21 and 2021-22

• In a first, PM Modi chairs Cabinet meet via video link

New Delhi, April 6 (PTI): The Union cabinet on Monday approved an ordinance to reduce the salaries, allowances and pensions of Members of Parliament (MPs) by 30 per cent for one year and the amount will be utilised in the fight against coronavirus.

The President, Vice President, governors of states have also voluntarily decided to take a pay cut as a social responsibility, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Briefing reporters, the minister said the cabinet approved an ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 reducing allowances and pension by 30 pet cent from April 1 2020 for one year.  

The money will go to Consolidated Fund of India, he added.

The Cabinet also approved temporary suspension of MPLAD (Member of Parliament local Area Development) fund scheme during 2020-21 and 2021-22, and the funds will be used for managing health services and the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the country, he said.

First Cabinet meet via video link

Meanwhile, an a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Monday via video link amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Besides Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah were present at the prime minister''s official residence along with some senior officials, other members of the Cabinet were connected via a video link from their offices and residences.

In the last Cabinet meeting on March 25, the large oval table at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg was gone, and Prime Minister Modi and his ministerial colleagues sat in chairs kept at quite a distance from each other as they practised ''social distancing'' to prevent a possible spread of the novel coronavirus.

Usually, the Cabinet meetings are held around the oval table.

The prime minister has been pitching for "social distancing" to check the spread of coronavirus and as part of it he announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown.

Before chairing the Cabinet meet, the prime minister chaired a meeting of the council of ministers via video conference on Monday morning. Pictures showed that while Modi, Singh and Shah were at PM''s residence, the ministers were connected via video link.