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Monthly honorarium of a union parishad chairman and a member has been increased from Tk 1,500 to Tk 3,000 and Tk 700 to Tk 1,500 respectively, officials said.

The enhanced remuneration will come into effect from April, 2008.

Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam recently approved the hikes after the local government ministry forwarded a proposal in this regard.

The enhancement would add about Tk 30 crore to the government's monthly contribution to the UP representatives' remunerations, officials said. According to the approval, a union parishad chairman will get Tk 1,350 from the government, while the remaining Tk 1650 will come from the parishad's own fund.

The ratio will be Tk 700 and Tk 800 for a UP member. Currently, the government gives a UP chairman a monthly honorarium of Tk 500, while the local government body pays Tk 1,000 to its chief.

The government and the parishad equally share the honorarium of a UP member. The government introduced the token honorariums for the public representatives of the lowest tier of the local government in 2001.

The number of UP chairmen and members in the country are about 4,500 and 54,000 respectively, officials in the Local Government Division said.

'The enhancement in token the token money was a long-felt need to honour the local government representatives at the grassroots level,' a high official in the finance ministry said on Sunday.