Uttarakhand flood: Sonia Gandhi urges Congress MPs, MLAs donate one month’s salary

New Delhi: Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday directed all the party Member of Parliaments (MP) and Member of Legislative Assemblies (MLA) to donate one month’s salary for the victims of the Uttarakhand flash flood.

The death toll in the worst tragedy has gone up to 207 while thousands are still reported missing. According to Ajay Maken, the Congress General Secretary and newly appointed head of Congress’ communication department, Sonia Gandhi has also urged party MPs give Rs 10 lakhs each from their Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund.

The Congress party has 275 MPs including 203 in the Lok Sabha and 72 in the Rajya Sabha. There are also two nominated members in the Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha — all nominated by the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government.

The members of parliament receive Rs. 50,000 as basic salary per month. This would raise Rs 13.75 million if the nominated members respond to the appeal. Also, Rs275 million will be available through the MLPADS fund for reconstruction of the devastated state.

All MPs are entitled to recommend works worth Rs 50 million per year from MPLADS. While Lok Sabha members are entitled to spend the money in their constituency, Rajya Sabha members can recommend works worth the same amount per year in one or more districts of the state from which they are elected.

Sonia Gandhi, along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had taken an aerial survey of the devastated state of Uttarakhand following which the Union Government initiated several measures to rescue locals and tourists who are believed to be trapped and locate those missing. The army has already launched the rescue mission.

Prime Minister has also appealed to all citizens to liberally donate to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. All such donations are exempted from tax. Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has also issued a similar appeal for donations to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

According to Maken, a control room has been established at the Dehradun-based headquarters of the Congress party to accelerate the relief work being done on behalf of the party.

Various state units of the Congress party have been asked to collect and send relief material to Uttarakhand on a priority basis.