The Hindu 23.08.2012
Vision document ready; council awaits guidelines
The city Corporation is still awaiting the State government’s guidelines regarding fund allocation and subsidies for the various schemes that the local body is envisaging as part of its 12th Five-Year Plan.
The recommendations made during a development seminar on August 18 will be examined and woven into the draft on August 23, when a meeting of the 19 working groups has been scheduled. Saturday’s seminar involved ward-level officials to scrutinise the report and offer suggestions.
“We cannot elucidate on the specifics of the plan without getting the allocation finalised by the government. Currently, what we have is a vision document identifying areas that needs work and we have also estimated the financial input required,” Corporation coordinating officer Ravindran Nair said.
He added that the Corporation had so far performed as per schedule, appointing the working groups, creating a draft plan, conducting a seminar — all for finalising the Five-Year perspective plan for 2012-2017, in addition to the annual 2012-2013 plan and the two-year rolling plan for 2012-2014. The new guidelines seek to make the implementation process more effective and cut down the time taken in formulating yearly programmes.
“In 2007, there were instances where certain programmes were fixed, but the government did not grant approval or the necessary subsidies, leading to the cancellation of a few schemes,” said Mr. Nair, emphasising that it was necessary to look through such details in the formulating period itself.
Suggestions put forth during the discussion held on Saturday included developing online facilities for zonal offices and cleaning up of ponds in the city. The meeting also addressed a lack of financial support envisaged for a few sectors, including agriculture, public works, and sports, Mr. Nair said.
As per government guidelines, each working group consists of a maximum of 17 members. This step will be followed by further scrutiny by the standing committees and the steering committee, before the council gives the final nod for the development plan.
