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.