Telangana: No ceiling on medical expenses for sitting, former MLAs, MLCs

Hyderabad: Pray that our MLAs and MLCs keep in good health because you, the taxpayer, will be footing their medical bills in toto from now on, as the TS government has decided to remove the Rs 2 lakh ceiling on reimbursement of medical expenses of sitting and former MLAs, MLCs. 

On the directions of the state government the General Administration Department (GAD) has sent the file to the finance department for its approval. 

At present, sitting and former MLAs and MLCs get up to Rs 1 lakh for medical expenses. If the medical bills exceed Rs 2 lakh, the Chief Minister’s approval is necessary to release the funds. MLAs, MLCs, current and former, can avail of treatment in any private hospital and do not have to go to a government run hospital. 

The bills are submitted to the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, which is supposed to scrutinise the bills and make the payment along with the salary or pension.  

This perquisite was not thought adequate, so some MLAs told the government that Rs2 lakh is not enough in present day circumstances, and the ceiling should be removed. The state has thus obligingly directed the GAD to put up the file for removing the ceiling. 

It is open to debate whether the representatives of the people should get any medical expenses reimbursed at all, since the people they represent are not similarly privileged. 

But re-moving the ceiling for such reimbursement al-together is bound to lead to a misuse of public money, say bureaucrats. If the Rs2 lakh is not sufficient, the government can raise the ceiling somewhat, they say.

Since politicians routinely get treated at private hospitals - since the ones their government funds are woefully inadequate - it's a great opportunity for private hospitals to mint money.  

At present, the strength of the Telangana Legislative Assembly is 119, and the Legislative Council, 40. There are about 500 former MLAs and MLCs in Telangana state. Bure-aucrats say they have no record of how much money is spent by government for reimbursing the medical expenses of these politicians.