At a council meeting held on Monday to discuss and approve Kochi Corporation Plan fund projects for the upcoming year, Opposition councillors staged a walkout protesting against the poor implementation of the current year’s projects.
Of the ₹171 crore that the State government has allotted for the Corporation’s Plan fund projects for the upcoming financial year, fresh projects worth only ₹60 crore could be taken up, said LDF councillor V.P. Chandran. “The remaining amount would have to be allotted to complete projects spilling over from the 2019-20 Plan, drastically reducing the number of new projects that can be taken up.”
Only a little over ₹60 crore had been utilised from the Plan fund this year, letting over ₹100 crore lapse, Mr. Chandran said. “Every year sees a few spillover projects, but failing to utilise such a large amount is a first.”
Opposition councillors attributed the delay in implementing several Plan fund projects to the recent rejig of standing committees.
As part of a prior agreement, Congress standing committee chairpersons had resigned, necessitating fresh elections. It had delayed important decisions, they said.
Deputy Mayor K.R. Premakumar said the reshuffling of standing committees could have delayed the process of placing projects before them for approval.
“The government’s treasury restrictions have also delayed project implementation,” he said.
Projects that the State government had directed local bodies to take up have not featured in the Plan fund proposals for the coming year.
Funds have not been set aside for projects announced in the State budget such as the Hunger Free Kerala project. As part of the project, local bodies were required to set aside funds to set up hotels for low cost meals.
Despite State government guidelines, projects to clean canals and rivers, construction of public toilets, welfare projects for the elderly and drafting a disaster management plan had not been included in the Plan fund projects for the year, said Mr. Chandran.
