The Hindu 28.03.2013
Councillors castigate ‘impractical’ Budget
The Kottayam Municipality on Wednesday conducted a discussion on the annual Budget presented for the financial year 2013-14 during which some councillors cutting across political lines expressed concern that many projects proposed were “high in impracticality and low on relevance”.
However, while the general feeling in the ruling UDF front was that the Budget was “to be emulated by other local bodies in the State”, councillors belonging to the LDF camp remained firm on their opinion that the Municipal authorities attempted to take credit for many projects initiated by the Central and State governments.
Hot topics
Among the major topics that occupied centre-stage during the debate was the alleged neglect meted out towards Nattakom and Kumaranalloor, two erstwhile grama panchayats that were merged to the Municipality a few years ago. According to Councillor Jayasree Prasannakumar, who represents the Puthettu ward in Kumaranalloor, various proposals had been put forth for exploiting the tourism potential of the region.
This included developing a park by the river bank near the Forest Depot at Parampuzha as well as launching boat services.
Councilor T.C. Roy, representing S.H. Mount, pointed out that the Municipality was yet to fulfill its assurance, made in the previous Budget of providing aids for fishermen in the
region. The Budget does not make any mention in this regard. Furthermore, there has been no significant welfare measure announced for paddy farmers in the region, the councillors said.
Dream projects
There were also criticisms made against many of the dream projects including constructing a foot overbridge with escalators. According to a section of the councillors, the Budget should instead have focused upon improving the basic amenities and resolving the problem of water scarcity.
