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Financial Management

City Corporation to go solar

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 05:29 administrator
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The Hindu                       26.03.2013

City Corporation to go solar

Focus on sustainable development:Deputy Mayor Subi Babu presents the Thrissur Corporation Budget 2013-14 in Thrissur on Monday.— Photo: K.K. Najeeb
Focus on sustainable development:Deputy Mayor Subi Babu presents the Thrissur Corporation Budget 2013-14 in Thrissur on Monday.— Photo: K.K. Najeeb.

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.

 

Civic Budget discussions proceed on expected lines

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 05:25 administrator
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The Hindu                       26.03.2013

Civic Budget discussions proceed on expected lines

Staff Reporter 

Opposition alleges repeat of several projects from past years.

The first day of discussions on the City Corporation’s Budget for 2013-14 proceeded on expected lines, with the Opposition repeating its allegation of repetition of promises from the past years and the ruling party blaming the Union and the State governments for lack of funds.

C.P. Musafir Ahmed of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) kicked off the proceedings by suggesting an increase in efficiency of tax collection. He said big projects such as the Cyber Park and the Thantedam park were not mentioned in the Budget. However, he said the multi-level parking lot and the solar streetlights were worthy of emulation by other cities.

K. Sreekumar of the Congress said the current Budget was a copy of the previous year’s, pointing out page numbers from which the contents were repeated without change.

“The fact that the Deputy Mayor had to repeat many of the items from the previous Budget proves that there has not been much progress in many of the projects,” he said.

K. Sathyanathan of the Congress said the civic Budget just purveyed dreams every year, and the Corporation should carry out its own duties before blaming the State government.

“In the golden jubilee year of the Corporation, even the master plan is yet to be prepared. We have been hearing of projects such as the multi-level parking lot for the past many years. But they have remained only on paper,” he said.

Only a handful of councillors brought up issues from their own wards.

K. Devaki of the CPI(M) said the houses near the IT park were in a precarious situation, developing cracks on their walls because of the construction work. She suggested that the Corporation request the State government for compensation to the affected parties. Another suggestion was to route the linkage loans to Kudumbasree groups and payment to home shops through women’s co-operatives.

P. Devarajan of the CPI(M) said a special fund needed to be created to be used during times of natural calamities. He countered the Opposition allegations of water projects being ignored in the Budget, alleging that the Centre was planning to privatise water distribution in the country.

Braziliya Shamsudheen of the Indian National League said she had not yet got the ward fund from the previous Budget.

Sakaria P. Hussein of the Congress demanded the cancellation of the build, operate, transfer contract awarded to a private company for the construction of flats for lower-income groups at Kalluthankadavu.

Jean Moses of the Socialist Janata (Democratic) demanded an amendment to the Budget since it had no projects.

The debate will continue on Tuesday, following which Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef will give his reply.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 08:02
 

Plans for roads, lake in Budget

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 05:19 administrator
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The Hindu                       26.03.2013

Plans for roads, lake in Budget

 

The Budget for 2013-2014 of the Kollam Corporation showing a revenue of Rs.397,78,51,596, expenditure of Rs.396,25,81,641, and a surplus of Rs.31,52,69,955 was presented on Monday by G. Lalu, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Corporation’s Finance Standing Committee.

The Budget proposes new roads in the 55 city divisions, a square in memory of actor Jayan, a project to protect Sasthamcotta Lake, the major drinking water source of the city, a “Karuthal” scheme for security of school students, protection of mangrove forests, and revision of taxes. The scheme, at a cost of Rs.15 lakh, proposes to inform parents by SMS the absence of students from school.

The Corporation will also launch a karate-training programme for schoolgirls as part of a self-defence project. More facilities in the public education sector have been proposed in the Budget.

An allocation of Rs.10.10 crore has been made for new roads. Footpaths along the Kadappakada over-bridge will be constructed at a cost of Rs.1.27 crore. A sum of Rs.3 crore has been allocated for renovating the drainage network and Rs.8.12 crore set apart for constructing new drains at nine locations.

With the inclusion of the city in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, an elevated corridor from Polayathodu to Anandawalleshwaram has been proposed and Rs.5 crore allotted for the project.

Development of the Kadappakada, Shakthikulangara and Ramankulangara junctions and construction of a subway at the taluk office junction and a flyover at Eravipuram also come under the JNNURM scheme.

For completing the renovation work of the Valiayakada market and the Andamukham bus stand, Rs.5.43 crore has been allocated. A shopping complex and an international convention centre at Andhamukham will be constructed at a cost Rs.4 crore and a community hall at Cantonment will be built at Rs.3 crore.

A scheme to provide aid for renal patients to undergo dialysis will be implemented. Palliative care units will be opened at all primary health centres and health clubs will be established on the Kollam beach and near the boat jetty junction.

Kollam will become the first corporation in the State to provide birth, marriage and death certificates from 1970 through its website, Mr. Lalu said. An allocation of Rs.73.72 crore has been made for a sewage treatment plant and online facility will be set up for booking the C. Keshavan Memorial Town Hall.

As part of energy conservation measures, non-conventional energy sources will be tapped. Solar panels will soon be installed at the corporation headquarters at a cost of Rs.1 crore to meet its power needs.

Mr. Lalu said Rs.50 lakh would be allocated for installing solar panels at schools. He said the entire city would be brought under streetlights at a cost of Rs.50 lakh.

Mr. Lalu said Rs.10 crore would be allocated for construction of the Jayan Square. A swimming pool would be constructed at the Cantonment maidan spending Rs.35 lakh.

 
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