CM Oommen Chandy inaugurates AMRUT project

He was addressing the gathering, during the state-level inauguration of AMRUT project implementing at nine cities, in Kerala, at Kozhikode on Monday.

He said that court stay on the creation of more municipalities lost the chances of state to get more cities under the scheme.

“At present we have AMRUT project implementing in all the six corporations and three municipalities (Palakkad, Guruvayoor, Alappuzha). Tamil Nadu got more cities under the scheme after they upgraded major grama pacnhayats to municipalities, however in Kerala, when the government created 28 new municipalities, court had put a stay on it and this adversely affected the chances of getting more cities under the project,” the Chief Minister said.

“According to the project, we will get 587.48 crore for various developmental activities. Out of this, 57.6 crore should be used before the end of this financial year. We should effectively use this without any delay and by giving prominence to projects for sewerage-septic systems, drainages, city transport and for the construction of parks and open spaces,” he added.

Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali, who presided over the function, opined that more AMRUT cities should have come in state where 48 percent of population are living in cities. “Effective and time bound implementation of projects is the key for success in AMRUT,” he added.

Social Justice and Panchayats Minister Dr M.K Muneer, mayors from Kozhikode, Kannur and Thrissur among others were present at the programme.