CM Vijay Unveils MLA Perks Package, Raises Health Insurance Cover to ₹25 Lakh and Milk Price by ₹3; DMK Slams Cost

Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay made a series of announcements under Rule 110 in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 19, the most prominent being a support package for all 234 MLAs: a government vehicle for each legislator, a monthly allowance of ₹75,000 towards driver, fuel and vehicle maintenance, and a further ₹25,000 a month to engage a secretary for official work.

Vijay said the move — together amounting to about ₹1 lakh a month per MLA, or roughly ₹2.34 crore a month and close to ₹28 crore a year across the House, excluding the cost of the vehicles themselves — was meant to help legislators, particularly first-time MLAs from modest backgrounds, carry out constituency visits and address public grievances.

The Chief Minister also announced a five-fold increase in the annual family coverage under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh per beneficiary family.

Separately, he raised the price paid to farmers for milk procured through Aavin's primary cooperative societies by ₹3, including a government incentive, taking it from ₹38 to ₹41 a litre — the first such revision in four years. The Chief Minister said the change would benefit more than 3.16 lakh milk producers and cost the exchequer an additional ₹360 crore a year, and criticised the previous DMK government for not revising the rate during its tenure.

While the TVK legislators and allied Congress MLAs welcomed the announcements, the DMK criticised the MLA perks package as an unnecessary financial burden on the state exchequer, with party spokesperson A. Saravanan questioning the need to spend heavily on vehicles and allowances for all 234 legislators.