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House to debate payments to OMP members
View(s):Parliament will, on Tuesday, debate a motion for the payment of emoluments to the 7 members of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) including its Chairman.
Payments to the Chairman will include a monthly allowance of Rs 100,000, a monthly telephone allowance of Rs 10,000 and an official vehicle with a monthly quota of 225 litres of fuel.
For the other members of the OMP, a monthly allowance of Rs 75,000, a monthly telephone allowance of Rs 8,000 and a monthly transport allowance of Rs 25,000 to a limit of 350 km or, a transport allowance of Rs 50,000 for a distance over and above 350 km, depending on the distance from the residence to the office, will be paid.
The emoluments and other allowances of the OMP members will be charged to the Consolidated Fund.
According to the OMP (Establishment, Administration, and Discharge of Functions) Act, the salaries of the members of that Office is determined by Parliament.
The Office is mandated to search, trace and clarify the circumstances of missing persons and provide reparation, psychosocial support and other assistance to the family members of the missing persons, and to make recommendations to the relevant authorities towards minimizing the number of incidents of missing persons.
Cabinet approval was granted in June for the payment of emoluments to the OMP members, as per Cabinet Memorandum submitted by the President on March 22, 2018, in respect of this Office.
Meanwhile, the Government will reintroduce a motion to enhance the salary of Auditor General (AG) Gamini Wijesinghe. The previous motion for the salary hike was withdrawn last week.
In addition to the salary and allowance attached to the post of AG, Mr Wijesinghe will be given a special monthly allowance of Rs 50,000, as a special consideration to his educational qualifications and service experience.