The city Corporation has adopted an adjournment motion demanding that the State government take immediate steps to provide essential commodities at reduced prices before Onam.
Welfare standing committee chairman Palayam Rajan moved a resolution that was critical of the government’s inaction in ensuring that the financially underprivileged had the option of purchasing quality items at low prices.
This did not fare well with the opposition UDF, who described the motion as a mere gimmick to portray the government in bad light.
The motion described the ‘Onam kit’ distribution for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families a ‘farce’ for it consisted of 200 grams of chilli, 100 grams of tea, and two kg of ration rice, not even Chamba rice. It also said that Maveli stores in rural areas were yet to begin the distribution of kits. The council meeting on Thursday also covered the installation of street lights in the city.
Works standing committee chairman V.S. Padmakumar promised that at least 80 per cent of the city’s street lights would be repaired by Onam. He added than rain was hampering the repair work in certain areas.
LED lights
The council also approved the formation of a technical committee on choosing an agency to purchase LED lights from. It would include representatives of the Energy Management Centre, Kerala State Electricity Board, College of Engineering Trivandrum, and the Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology.
Mr. Padmakumar also moved a motion saying that the government should release Rs.10 crore from the disaster management fund to repair damaged roads and drains in the city. The health standing committee was upset over the pace of setting up biogas plants in the city. Committee chairperson S. Pushpalatha stressed that the Corporation officials were working round-the-clock to see these projects through but they ended up getting stuck at the Suchitwa Mission, whose technical sanction was necessary before calling for tenders.
She circulated details of eight pending projects at different schools and markets. . The Corporation would launch an intensive cleaning programme on September 1, which would go on till 15.
Ms. Pushpalatha also said that an MoU would soon be signed with the Humane Society International to carry out a stray dog sterilisation programme, scheduled to begin on September 1.
