KOCHI: The city corporation, which failed in effectively utilising its share of annual Plan fund allocation for the last fiscal, could get the approval for 1100 projects worth Rs 128 crore for the 2018-19 fiscal in the last-minute rally. After getting the council's approval, the local body uploaded the project details on the website by March 31 midnight which helped it to get the approval of the District Planning Committee. Among the project proposals, the service sector has got the highest allocation of Rs 46.3 crore while Rs 13.64 crore has been earmarked for the transport sector.
Allocation to resolve the perennial issue of water logging in the city is Rs 9 crore. The infrastructure development sector has got Rs 37.14 crore. On the last day of the financial year, the civic administration convened meetings of working groups, standing committees, steering committees and council to finalise and approve the draft project proposals. The proposals have been approved by the council amidst noisy scenes and heated arguments. Though the government has stipulated April 1 as the deadline to start project implementation, it may not be possible for the civic body to comply with it as the tenders have to be floated.
Even during the council meeting held to approve the Plan projects, the members didn't get the draft proposal which led to heated arguments. Mayor Soumini Jain said that the civic administration didn't get enough time to prepare project proposals for new fiscal due to a high number of spillover projects and 2017-18 Plan projects' implementation. But, the Opposition members sought an apology from her for not complying with the state government's guidelines on Plan fund utilisation. However, deputy mayor T.J. Vinod admitted lapses in coordinating and implementing Plan projects.
