NEW DELHI: Giving effect to the Cabinet decision to cut allowances of members of Parliament by 30% in wake of COVID-19 crisis, two gazette notifications issued by the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha secretariats on Tuesday slashed the MPs’ constituency and office expense allowances by a total Rs 27,000 per month for the period April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.While the constituency allowance of MPs has been cut from Rs 70,000 to Rs 49,000 per month, the office expense allowance towards stationary and postage stands reduced to Rs 14,000 from Rs 20,000 per month.The notifications on constituency allowance stated that notwithstanding anything contained the rule 2 of Members of Parliament (Constituency Allowance) Amendment Rules, 2020, a member shall be entitled to receive the constituency allowance under section 8 of the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Member of Parliament Act, 1954 (30 of 1954), at the rate of Rs 49,000 rupees per month for the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.Another notification said that the Members of Parliament (Office Expense Allowance) Amendment Rules, 2020 would entitle a member to receive the Office Expense under section 8 of the Act, at the rate of Rs 54,000 per month, of which Rs 14,000 shall be for meeting expenses on stationery items and postage; and the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha Secretariat may pay up to Rs 40,000 to the person(s) as may be engaged by a member for obtaining secretarial assistance for the period from the 1st April, 2020 to the 31st March, 2021. Union Cabinet had on Monday approved slashing of allowances of members of the Parliament by 30 per cent for a year. Union minister Prakash Javadekar had also informed the media that the MPLADs (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) fund has been discontinued till 2022. "MPs’ funds of Rs 10 crore each will be pushed towards nation-building," he said.