Weakened by one of the worst financial crisis it has ever faced, the civic administration is groping in the dark.

The
Kochi Corporation has announced that it will turn off ‘unnecessary’
street lights and public  water taps in the city as part of its
austerity drive to solve the fiscal crunch.

These measures were
met with sharp criticism from both ruling and opposition councillors
when announced during a special council meeting.

 In the crucial
meeting, the councillors split hairs for five hours on Corporation’s
financial health at the end of which the Mayor Tony Chammany announced
an austerity drive to cut short the Corporation’s expenditure.

“At
present, the Corporation is spending Rs 5 lakh a month towards
electricity charges for lighting street lights. A number of these are
unnecessary and were put up just to please the residents in the
respective area. Many of public taps installed in the city are also
unwanted. As part of the austerity drive, a technical committee will be
set up to inspect these and the ones that are unnecessary will be
removed,” said the Mayor in his reply speech.

In the meeting,
councillors across party colours attacked the Mayor and Deputy Mayor B
Bhadra. Congress councillor and Development Standing Committee chairman
said that at least `30 lakh a day is needed for the smooth running of
the Corporation and that it cannot be made out just by switching off
street lights.

“The corporation has failed to increase its revenue
collection. Finance committee failed to carry out the monthly review of
the local body. The Corporation has not implemented projects proposed
earlier to overcome the financial crisis,” he said. Opposition
councillor Anil Kumar said while the total expenditure has been
skyrocketing during the last four years, few has been done to generate
income.

 “Starting from 2008-09, the expenditure has been
increased from `78 crore to `118 crore, a whooping 60 per cent of which
goes to salaries and pension. The income-expenditure disparity is
officially `26 crore. And the Mayor is talking about switching off
essential utilities such as street lights and public taps,” he said.

However,
Deputy Mayor and chairperson of the Finance Standing Committee B Bhadra
said strong policy measures will be implemented to tackle the crisis.

 “Measures
has been initiated for revenue recovery.  Further drive against illegal
construction will continue, which has gained us Rs 3.75 crore until
now,” she said.

The Deputy Mayor also asked for the cooperation of all standing committee for the smooth implementation of these measures.