Thiruvananthapuram corporation half budget now, rest after two months

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation will present a ‘half budget’ on Monday thanks to the code of conduct of the elections in force. The corporation’s tradition is to re-announce incomplete projects and allocate funds for new ones, in the first week of March.

“No carryover project will be there in the budget. It will contain only revenue and expenditure account, similar to vote-on-account of state governments,” deputy mayor Rakhi Ravikumar said. Newly elected councillor Rani Vikraman of Vazhottukonam will take the oath of office on Tuesday.

The council is unlikely to see brawls and walkouts as a full budget session will be held only after the state elections. However, the non-utilisation funds will figure in the speeches.

“Biogas plants in divisions were expecting substantial allocations besides the continuation of Suchitwa Ward scheme and revamping the plastic shredding unit. All of them will now come after the elections,” a finance committee member said.
Half of the revenue comes from taxes and the rest, the government grants, rent, user fees and others.