The Thripunithura Municipality’s budget for 2018-19 financial year, presented in the council on Thursday with a ₹1.9-crore surplus, revenue earnings of ₹105.32 crore and expenditure of ₹103.41 crore, has allocated more funds for constructing buildings for the civic body than for creating civic amenities.
The budget was passed on Friday with the 25 ruling LDF members voting for and the 24 opposition members comprising the BJP and UDF voting against it.
Traffic congestion, conservation of water resources and waste management are the three main issues on which people had sought innovative solutions from the governing council.
Security issues
Safety and security issues too had come to the fore this year with shocking incidents of crime in the town. However, budget proposals each year continue to have little focus on resolving important civic needs.
Women's safety, toilet facilities, and rest rooms find no mention in the budget, according to opposition members who spoke during the budget discussion held on Friday. Nor were there any mention of setting up more monitoring cameras in the town for people’s safety. It was pointed out by the opposition benches that only five cameras were set up of which a few were not in working order.
Waste management
While the budget speaks of efforts to bring down the quantity of organic waste, there is no mention of inorganic waste management. A major portion of the funds has gone for creating buildings for the municipality. The budget mentions Water Metro as an option to de-congest traffic on the roads but no concrete proposals for building jetties are included. A amount of ₹10 lakh has been provided for carrying out a survey for the proposed Kaniyampuzha-Petta ring road.
The budget has earmarked only ₹20 lakh for conserving water resources and ₹5 lakh for rainwater pits in a town where the Kerala Water Authority provides only 50% of the demand.
In this context, when an opposition councillor pointed out the need for preserving the Konothupuzha where there had been a number of encroachments, the municipal secretary said that the civic body did not have details of the river’s length and breath in places it flows through the town.
As part of the municipality's 40th year celebrations, a programme would be put together and ₹50 lakh has been earmarked for it.
Accordingly, a modern stadium would be built at an appropriate place, said the proposal.
The municipality has also proposed to create playgrounds at three places as part of the Keralotsavam project of the State. For this, ₹4 crore has been provided.
