Thiruvananthapuram: Deccan Chronicle invited Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor V. K. Prasanth and Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayath President V. K. Madhu to speak about the revised budget presented by Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Issac for 2016-2017. Both have welcomed it. There are many promising initiatives in the budget, according to Mayor V. K. Prashant.
“The Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, is about to be upgraded to the level of AIIMS. The allocation of Rs 50 crores towards building more public restrooms is a superb step. The amount allocated towards it is likely to be increased later,” he said.
The government has allocated Rs 50 crores for the revival of Parvathy Puthanar, and expects an expenditure of Rs 5 crores on the project this year. One of the major hurdles in cleaning the river was that it was getting polluted continuously by the sewage effluents from the houses on the riverside. Prasanth said, “We have proposed to the central government a project to lay sewage lines for the people here, as part of Amruth programme.”
A township to be developed around the Attukal temple, an idea conceived around 10 years ago, got a budget allocation of Rs 100 crores in the revised budget presented by Issac. The amount estimated to be spent on the project this year is Rs 10 crores. The Mayor said that the ‘Attukal Township Plan’ envisages Attukal as a pilgrim centre with better roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
“Every year crores are spent on infrastructure here, as there is no proper planning. On the other hand, the Attukal Township project, introduced when the LDF government was in power, has long-term development as its objective,” he said. The civic body had discussed with the state about a similar project for Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. “The tourism potential of the temple has not been fully explored. Better facilities will result in better tourism revenue from the temple. We had brought it to the notice of Mr Isaac,” Prashant said.
