At a time when Tripunithura municipality is going to release the annual budget, the residents have demanded the authorities to come up with a solution to complete the Town Hall project which has been delayed for 15 years.

As per the project, the Town Hall will be set up on the proposed one-and-a-half acres of land at Kannankulangara. The residents also said that they would conduct various protests under the banner of Janakeeya Samithi if the project did not materialise this year itself.

“Though the project reached nowhere, an amount of `8 lakh has been spent for the project. Only a couple of pillars was built in the proposed area. We are demanding a proper inquiry regarding the money spent to the project,” Janakeeya Samithi Member V Raman said.

He also also said that they are organising the protests because they have lost faith in the political parties.

“After introducing the proposal in 1998, the Communist party and the Congress party have assumed power in the state. Both of them failed to complete the project,” he said.

A former municipal councilor and also a member of the Samithi told ‘City Express’ that the project has hit a roadblock at its very  earlier stage. “The project was entrusted to a private company by the then municipal council. The private company had started the construction work  but they withdrew from the project after constructing some pillars.

The company claimed that the project cannot be completed with the allotted fund of `8 lakh. Later, when the municipality tried to restart the project, the move had been objected by the local auditors and asked them to submit the details of fund spent to the project. The issue still remains unsloved which pulled out the muncipal authorites from implementing the project,” he said.

Meanwhile, the municipal authorities said that  all the issues related to the project have been cleared.

“The 2013 annual budget will allocate sufficient fund to the project. Also the project will be completed in a time bound manner,” the authorities said.