: The taluk hospital in Fort Kochi will soon get Rs. 70 lakh for setting up a dialysis unit from the Kochi Corporation.
The fund is to be allocated from the unspent amount of various projects and the amount saved while implementing other projects.
A meeting of the Kochi Corporation council, held here on Friday, approved the proposals moved by the Development Standing Committee of the local body.
All necessary infrastructure facilities required for setting up the dialysis unit, which could be used for eight patients simultaneously, would be procured. The other taluk hospitals within the Corporation limit will be supported for procuring medicines, said T.J. Vinod, chairman of the Development Standing Committee.
The local body had mopped up Rs. 2.13 crore from the 380 works, which could not be implemented during the current fiscal. The renovation of town hall would bet additional support of Rs. 65 lakh.
A rehabilitation project for fish workers in West Kochi, too, has received extra allocation from the local body. The council gave its approval for purchasing around one acre at Rameswaram for rehabilitating fish workers.
While Rs. 2.7 lakh has been earmarked for the preparation of the people’s biodiversity registry, the animal birth control programme would get a share of Rs. 69 lakh.
The relocation and modernisation of auto-rickshaw stands would be given Rs. 10 lakh and the proposal for micro-chipping domesticated dogs would be given Rs. 4 lakh.
Though these proposals were cleared by the Council, it has to be approved by the District Planning Committee for approval. The proposal will be presented at the committee, which is scheduled to meet during the first week of February, Mr. Vinod said.
With two more months remaining in the current fiscal, the local body could spend 33.89 per cent of its plan fund allocated by the State government till January 24. The spending is expected to go up in the coming days. Kochi was well ahead of the State average when it comes to the spending of plan funds by local bodies. The State average of spending was around 17 per cent, he said.
M. Anilkumar of the CPI (M) urged the Kochi Corporation to pass a resolution demanding that the plan fund allocation should be retained in the wake of recommendations that plan fund allocation for local bodies shall be done away with.
The fund would be allocated from the unspent amount of various projects.
