Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today said Rs 750 crore pension arrears would be given to former transport employees and the money would be in their hands before Pongal.

The announcement was made under the Rule 110 in the Assembly. WIth this, the government had given Rs 2,147.39 crore as arrear amount.

With Pongal nearing, the Chief Minister wanted the striking unions to get back to work. However, the transport strike entered the seventh day today.

Earlier, the DMK walked out of the House over gutkha issue. DMK working president MK Stalin told mediapersons that he was denied permission to talk about why the investigation officer in the gutkha row was changed.

The Assembly today passed a Bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Payment of Salaries Act, 1951, to raise the salary of legislators. DMK opposed the Bill proposed by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

Stalin said the Government said the Government claimed the treasury was in loss and with the ongoing strike by transport workers, hike in MLA salary was not the need of the hour.

The new Bill would raise the monthly salary of MLAs to Rs 1.05 lakh, nearly double that of the earlier salary of Rs 55,000. MLA Constituency Development Scheme fund allocation would go up to Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 2 crore. Pension, including that for members of the now-defunct Legislative Council, would go up to Rs 20,000 from Rs 12,000.