The District Planning Committee (DPC) is giving final touches to a task force to make Kozhikode a child-friendly district shortly.
A meeting of the DPC held here on Tuesday decided that the task force would safeguard the rights of children and ensure that children would secure various services in different stages of their growth.
It also decided to hold a meeting of village extension officers who have been tasked with the implementation of LIFE Mission, a comprehensive housing security scheme, on Saturday, for its third phase of execution and a meeting of assistant executive engineers under the aegis of the Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) for its speedy implementation. During the stages of its implementation, officials associated with the scheme should not be transferred and new officials should not be appointed, the DPC has suggested to the government.
The meeting also decided to modernise the conference hall of the DPC so as to increase its seating capacity to 500. The electronics wing of the Public Works Department (PWD) has already prepared an estimate of ₹32.60 lakh for the purpose. The local bodies have been asked to contribute their share to the project. An approval would be sought from the Kerala State Planning Board as well, it decided.
The ongoing development activities at the block-level were also reported and reviewed at the meeting. An assessment was also made on the Plan Fund, SC/ ST development component funds and annual projects of the local bodies.
Henceforth, monthly appraisals will be conducted in all departments. District Collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao said heads of departments would have to give satisfactory explanation if the departments failed to utilise funds.
Kozhikode District Panchayat president Babu Parassery, District Planning Officer N.K. Sreelatha, panchayat members, chiefs of local bodies and department heads took part in the meeting.
