Budget proposes to generate 1 MW of solar energy on experimental basis.

The Thrissur Corporation has decided to ‘go solar’. For
the first time in the State, a corporation will be actively involved in
generating solar power.

Addressing the Corporation
Budget meeting on Monday, Mayor I.P. Paul announced that the corporation
would take up generation of 1 MW of solar energy on an experimental
basis.

Large scale production would follow if the
experiment proved successful, Mr. Paul said. The corporation was
committed to implement sustainable development projects for improving
the standard of living of the city-dwellers in a time-bound manner, the
Mayor said.

At the council on Monday, Deputy Mayor
Subi Babu presented the revised Budget of 2012-2013 with revenue of
Rs.127.72 crore and expenditure of Rs.111.68 crore. She also presented
the Budget for 2013-2014 that envisaged revenue of Rs.248.88 crore and
expenditure of Rs.244.31 crore.

Like the previous
one, the new budget also has given thrust on infrastructure development.
It has given emphasis on development of city roads and main junctions.
An amount of Rs.5 crore has been allotted for the widening of junctions
in the city. The budget promises a decongested East Fort Junction by
next year. The junction like West Fort, Aranattukara Thopil Junction and
Divanji Junction will be developed. It has also proposed to tackle the
bottleneck at Pattalam Road. Foot over bridges will be built at all busy
junctions. All subways will be renovated.

An amount
of Rs.5 crore has been earmarked for development of roads, including
those connecting the corporation to the nearby panchayats.

Efforts
will be taken to make the construction of an overbridge at Divanji
Corner-State Hotel Junction a reality, the Deputy Mayor said. Another
Rs.5 crore has been allotted for the construction of various bridges,
including Kundupara bridge. A mobility hub will be established with the
help of the government. Around 20 city services will be started soon.

Decentralised
waste management would be on top of the civic bodies’ priority list,
the Deputy Mayor said. Arrangements will be made to segregate plastic
from waste. Dust bins will be set up at all junctions. Mini biogas
plants will be made compulsory for all new buildings.

The
Sakthan Heritage City will be another dream project of the corporation.
The heritage city will have a state-of-the-art bus station and a
multi-storeyed shopping complex, a theatre, conference hall, food court,
women’s short stay centre, artisan centre, computerised public
transport system, police aid centre and first-aid centre.

Hi-tech
vegetable and non-vegetable markets are other important projects
proposed for Sakthan Nagar. The markets would have their own waste
management plants.

The corporation plans to set up
100 drinking water projects in various divisions to tackle drinking
water shortage. An amount of Rs.4 crore will be used for this purpose.
The budget has earmarked Rs.1 crore for cleaning public wells, ponds and
other water bodies.

A host of new projects such as
beautification of the city, slum development, health care, pain and
palliative projects, sanitation programmes, old-age homes, environmental
conservation and social welfare also figure in the Thrissur Corporation
budget for 2013-14.