The city Corporation’s ₹1,359.59-crore Budget for the financial year 2020-21, with a projected surplus of ₹130.77 crore, lays almost equal stress on waste management, infrastructure and social welfare, with a few projects intended at job creation too.
However, the first Budget of the new administration is not very forthcoming on steps to improve revenue collection.
The Budget, presented by Deputy Mayor P.K. Raju on Thursday, contains 117 projects, some of them continuations of ongoing projects. The newly launched waste management campaign ‘Anicheraam Azhakaarnnoru Ananthapurikkayi’ (Let us come together for a beautiful Thiruvananthapuram) is allotted ₹10 crore.
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Waste compacting truck
The civic body is also planning to buy a waste compacting truck at ₹75 lakh to compress non-biodegradable waste. A project to expand sewerage lines gets ₹3 crore. An amount of ₹80 lakh has been set aside for diaper and napkin incinerator.
The major infrastructure projects include a subway and underground market at East Fort at ₹3 crore. An amount of ₹4 crore has been allotted for more multi-level parking lots. Smart roads, as part of the Smart City project, gets ₹10 crore.
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The Corporation also plans to set up a 24x7 ‘cafe on wheels’ at Medical College, General Hospital and Thampanoor, for which ₹35 lakh has been allocated. A ‘city hall’ will come up at Jagathy at ₹1 crore, while a multi-purpose commercial building at ₹2 crore is planned at the Corporation’s land in the Peroorkada-Vazhayila road.
Job cards
Among the allotments for job creation are ₹50 lakh for Local Employment Assistance Programme, ₹3 crore for job cards for the unemployed and generation of 1 lakh work days.
The Corporation will set up its own job portal to link employers and job aspirants and a ₹1-crore project will fund small-scale projects for those who have lost jobs. For the purpose of housing for all, ₹60 crore has been set aside and for renovation of Laksham Veedu colonies, ₹4 crore. COVID-19 control measures gets ₹10 crore. LED streetlighting project is allotted ₹8 crore.
Two novel projects on the list are a public diagnostic lab at ₹3 crore and the Corporation’s own petrol pump at ₹1.5 crore.
The major allocations in the health sector include ₹2 crore for dialysis centres at Pangappara and Fort hospitals, ₹1.5 crore for aid for cancer, heart and liver patients from indigent families, and ₹50 lakh for Ananthapuri mobile medical store.
For sports
The Budget sets aside ₹1 crore to develop sporting turfs, ₹3 crore for badminton, basketball and volleyball courts in schools and ₹1 crore for sports complexes at Mannanthala and Kadakampally. An amount of ₹50 lakh has been set aside to prepare cycle pathways. The Budget has several women-centric projects including ‘She hubs’ for which ₹30 lakh has been allotted, a women-friendly park named after poet Sugathakumari, and more ‘She lodges.’
Scholarships
The major allocations in the education sector include ₹1 crore scholarship for SC/ST students from BPL families, ₹5 crore for scholarships for special needs children, ₹80 lakh for laptops for students, ₹60 lakh for learning centres and libraries for students in coastal areas, ₹5 crore for providing nutritious food in anganwadis, ₹50 lakh for providing evening snacks for students, ₹1.5 crore for anganwadi buildings in coastal areas and ₹30 lakh for reading rooms. The civic body also plans to set up Janatha hotels at all the 100 wards to provide food at affordable rates.
As part of its push towards more electric vehicles, the Budget has set aside ₹70 lakh for buying electric vehicles for the Corporation and ₹50 lakh for buying electric scooters for councillors.