Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

No work, no pay

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee deserves to be praised for making the bold statement that the ‘no work, no pay concept’ should be introduced for parliamentarians. The NDA MPs’ action of disrupting the proceedings of Parliament for days together, even after drawing the attention of the house and the nation on matters they thought were important, is not in the best interests of the nation.

Valuable time is lost and important people’s issues do not get the attention they deserve. The MPs should not forget that they are being paid from the money collected from the taxpayers.

N.A. Murahari,

Chennai

At whose expense is Parliament disrupted every now and then? Why do the people elect their representatives to Parliament — for making issues out of non-issues and stalling the proceedings at the drop of a hat? Legislators are supposed to solve problems, not create more of them. The only way to discipline them is to refuse them salaries, paid from the hard-earned money of the people, for the days they disrupt Parliament.

Kamal Sani,

Hyderabad

Mr. Chatterjee’s plea is more than an expression of desperation and anguish. He has time and again asked members to exercise restraint and observe decorum. Interruptions, slogan-shouting and other acts of pandemonium make the conduct of the house an uphill task. The absence of decorum and discipline surely lowers the prestige of the MPs, even as it undermines democracy. The denial of a day’s allowance will perhaps bring about a change for the better. Live telecast of the proceedings has not had the desired impact, as the members seem to believe that defiance of the Chair is “heroic.”

N.K. Vijayan,

Kizhakkambalam

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