Projects worth Rs 68.2 crore approved

KOCHI: The Corporation Council meeting held on Saturday approved projects under the People’s Planning Programme worth Rs 68.2 crore for the current fiscal with focus on road development projects. Projects to the tune of Rs 46.93 crore and Rs 21.27 crore have been approved as development projects and maintenance grant, respectively. Of the 20 projects, the projects for road works get the lion’s share with Rs 23.76 crore. Various division committees scrutinised the draft projects prepared by the standing committee on development.  Based on the suggestions from the division committees, the standing committee on development prepared the final list. As the local body failed to spend the fund set apart for the development of Scheduled Castes last year, the amount for such projects in the current fiscal have been increased significantly. An amount of Rs 4.79 crore has been earmarked for projects to solve waterlogging in the city. Of the Rs 23.76 crore set part for road projects, Rs 6.33 crore will be for development projects, while the amount for maintenance projects is Rs 17.43 crore. There are projects to replace old pipelines for drinking water supply with new ones. Most of the officials failed to turn up at the special council meeting called to finalise the projects for the current year. The councillors criticised the officials’ act. It is the officials who are to clear the doubts of the councillors before finalising the projects. But the officials failed to attend the meeting.  Last time when such an occasion arose, there was a decision to summon such officials. So, the lackadaisical attitude of the officials should not be taken lightly, the councillors said.