The New Indian Express 10.01.2014
The New Indian Express 10.01.2014
The lack of a thorough discussion and formulating the requirements of
each ward was reflected in the emergency Corporation Council meeting
held here on Thursday convened to approve the draft proposal for the
projects to be included in the People’s Planning Programme for the
2014-15, 2015-16 financial years. Hence, many suggestions put forward by
the councillors in the council meeting will now have to be discussed in
the ward committee meetings to be completed in a time-frame between
January 11 and 19 before bringing them to the development seminar that
follows.
Welfare Standing Committee chairman Palayam Rajan said
that only 57 councillors were present throughout the general body
meeting called to frame the draft. Hence the major heads that came up at
the ward committees were included in the draft proposal under the
suggestions of 19 working groups.
The councillors said that the
nine days allotted for conducting the meetings in wards to discuss the
draft proposal were too short a period and that it required at least a
month’s time.
The major suggestions made by the councillors
included allocating enough funds for construction of houses in coastal
areas under the Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) project.
In
response, Mayor K Chandrika told the council that only few applicants
had presented the documents for the grant of financial aid and announced
a deadline of January 31 for the beneficiaries to submit the required
documents.
Another demand, placed by UDF’s Mujeeb Rahman, was to
sanction free water connection to the needy. The involvement of
middlemen in seeking permission for tar cutting was hampering the move,
he said.
Vazhuthacaud councillor Sureshkumar pointed out that town planning works need more funding for complete the projects.
The
Mayor said that those who have not raised suggestions in the council
meeting can submit them in writing and approved the draft proposal.