The Hindu              19.12.2013

Meet on merger of villages with BMC

Staff Reporter

Efforts are under way for merger of around 46 villages on the periphery of the city into the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) area.

Berhampur, the oldest municipality of the state was elevated to a Municipal Corporation on Jan 1, 2009. As per the gazette notification made for the purpose the boundary of the new Municipal Corporation, it was to include 26 villages of 14 panchayats on its periphery. Even after four years the boundary of the BMC has not been redrawn. According to BMC authorities, as per the recent plans the number of villages proposed to be included in the BMC has been increased to 46. They are from panchayats adjoining the BMC area. When Cuttack and Bhubaneswar urban bodies were elevated to Municipal Corporations, more than 60 panchayats were merged with these urban bodies. But in case of Berhampur similar action has been delayed. 

The Berhampur Sub-Collector convened a meeting to discuss the process to be initiated. As per BMC officials the villages to be included are the ones through which the proposed ring road for the city would pass. With the inclusion of these new villages the population of the city would exceed seven lakh and it would provide scope for planned development of the city.

According to authorities, the number of villages proposed to be included in the BMC has been increased to 46.

The Hindu              19.12.2013

Rs.20,000-cr. Plan for State

Special Correspondent

50% hike for large projects

The Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday approved the annual Plan of the State for 2014-15 with total outlay of Rs.20,000 crore .

The outlay is 17.65 per cent higher than current year’s Plan size of Rs.17,000 crore. Higher share is earmarked for Scheduled Tribes Development and major infrastructural projects.

Grants to local self governments are 25.27 per cent of the total outlay.

The Plan will be subject to approval by the Planning Commission.

3% for ST welfare

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the media after the Cabinet meeting that about three per cent of the Plan was earmarked for Scheduled Tribes — up from 2.3 per cent in the current year. The amount would come to about Rs.600 crore against about Rs.350 crore this year.

For Scheduled Tribes

Additional allocations for tribes would be used for drawing up new developmental projects to be implemented by District Collectors under the supervision of a high-level committee chaired by the Director of Scheduled Tribes Development.

Also, Rs.1962 crore was set apart for Scheduled Castes (9.81 per cent of total outlay).

The Chief Minister said that the Plan proposed 50 per cent increase in allocation for large-scale infrastructure projects (Rs.1,125 crore against about Rs.846 crore this year.).

The major projects for which investment is proposed next year include Vizhinjam International Transhipment Terminal, Kochi Metro Rail Project, Kannur Airport Project, monorail projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and suburban rail corridor project.

Mr. Chandy said that Rs.413.76 crore was set apart for special area development, including those for hill and coastal areas and Kasaragod district.

Farm sector

Emphasis was accorded to agriculture and allied sectors with an outlay of Rs.3,444.55 crore.

A sum of Rs.3,711.76 crore was proposed to be allocated for industries and infrastructure development. The outlay for agriculture sector had increased by 207.61 per cent since 2011-12. The increase was 267.34 per cent for Health and Family Welfare.

He said that if current year’s Budget had gone haywire as alleged, he as well as his Minister’s were responsible. “I had been proposing new projects and allocations when found necessary.”

Praise for Mani

Finance Minister K. M. Mani was a good Minister who was liberal with allocation for development and social welfare. The government could do much because of him, he said.