The Hindu                      28.03.2013

Vaikom Budget passed

Special Correspondent 

The annual Budget for Vaikom Municipality showing an income of Rs.24,02,39,092, an expenditure of Rs.22,61,13,170 and a surplus of Rs.1,41,25,922 has been passed after a discussion on Wednesday.

The Budget, which focuses on social welfare, solar energy utilisation, renovation of colonies and strengthening of the infrastructure facilities for tourism development, has called for innovative schemes for generating revenue. These include introduction fees for permission for mobile towers, service charge for cable

TV connections, service charge for autos and taxi cars and introduction of priced application forms for the various certificates issued by the Municipality.

The Budget also calls for direct collection of fees from the bus owners for the use of municipal bus stand and introduction of fee for collection of hotel waste.

The Budget plans to terminate the wayside hawkers and introduce evening market at Sreemoolam.. Rs. 2 lakh has been earmarked for the purpose. It has provided Rs.5 lakh for the cleaning of Andhakarathode and another Rs.8 lakh for its revival. It has also provided Rs.19.50 lakh for renovation of houses with special focus on homemakers as heads of the house.

The Budget said the Municipality has submitted Rs.3 crore project to the District Planning Committee for cleaning of the water-bodies and public places making use of the funds from MGNREGA. Other major projects include an open air auditorium near the general post office, renovation of roads and sewage canals, installation of solar panels at the Municipal office, the Vaikom Satyagraha Cultural Research Centre, parks and a public cemetery.

The Hindu                      28.03.2013

Councillors castigate ‘impractical’ Budget

Staff Reporter 

The Kottayam Municipality on Wednesday conducted a discussion on the annual Budget presented for the financial year 2013-14 during which some councillors cutting across political lines expressed concern that many projects proposed were “high in impracticality and low on relevance”.

However, while the general feeling in the ruling UDF front was that the Budget was “to be emulated by other local bodies in the State”, councillors belonging to the LDF camp remained firm on their opinion that the Municipal authorities attempted to take credit for many projects initiated by the Central and State governments.

Hot topics

Among the major topics that occupied centre-stage during the debate was the alleged neglect meted out towards Nattakom and Kumaranalloor, two erstwhile grama panchayats that were merged to the Municipality a few years ago. According to Councillor Jayasree Prasannakumar, who represents the Puthettu ward in Kumaranalloor, various proposals had been put forth for exploiting the tourism potential of the region.

This included developing a park by the river bank near the Forest Depot at Parampuzha as well as launching boat services.

Councilor T.C. Roy, representing S.H. Mount, pointed out that the Municipality was yet to fulfill its assurance, made in the previous Budget of providing aids for fishermen in the

region. The Budget does not make any mention in this regard. Furthermore, there has been no significant welfare measure announced for paddy farmers in the region, the councillors said.

Dream projects

There were also criticisms made against many of the dream projects including constructing a foot overbridge with escalators. According to a section of the councillors, the Budget should instead have focused upon improving the basic amenities and resolving the problem of water scarcity.