Kozhikode: Health and sanitation received top attention in the 2017-18 corporation Budget which was presented on Thursday.
Presenting the Budget, Deputy Mayor and chairperson of the finance standing committee Meera Darshak said the civic body planned to improve the functioning of health centres in the city in such a way that the poor would have easy access to health care.
The Budget has set aside ₹1 crore for the establishment of a health complex at West Hill. More cleaning staff will be hired. Efforts will be made to make the city plastic-free by setting up plastic shredding centres and reviving the plastic recycling unit at West Hill. There is also a plan to impose penalties on those who use plastic of less than 50 micron thickness, Ms. Darshak said. Stress has also been laid on welfare, education, and infrastructure development.
She presented a surplus Budget with a projected revenue of ₹398 crore and expenditure of ₹385 crore. The revenue includes a carry-over amount of ₹32.55 crore from the previous financial year, revenue income of ₹199.67 crore, and capital income of ₹165.77 crore. The Budget proposes a surplus of ₹12.13 crore. The Deputy Mayor also presented a revised Budget for the financial year 2016-17 with an income of ₹324.58 crore and expenditure of ₹292.02 crore.
The hour-long Budget session was chaired by Mayor Thottathil Raveendran, who, in his introductory speech, stressed the need to regain public participation in local self-governance at a time when it was entering its second phase.
He urged the public, their representatives as well as officials to work in tandem to make the second phase of local self-governance a success. The Mayor pointed out that scarcity of staff was a major hurdle to the smooth functioning of the corporation office, and that appointment of more staffers was being considered. He appreciated the efforts of the staff who often worked overtime for speedy disposal of files.
The Budget will be put to discussion on Friday and Saturday, at the end of which, it will be passed with amendments if any.
