KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation has decided to continue the meetings with city stakeholders, which are being conducted as part of the City Development Plan preparation, till next week.

Several hundreds have shared their views and dreams of the development of Kochi with the expert committee appointed by the corporation.

The civic authorities decided to extend the meeting with the stakeholders till next week following the unprecedented response of general public and experts to its call for sharing the development dreams.

The process of meeting the stakeholders is being held as part of the preparation of a City Development Plan to be submitted to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Besides the residents of the city and adjoining areas, the Corporation had also sought the views of experts from various fields, research institutions and social scientists to be incorporated in the Plan.

Nearly 300 persons have met the core group of officials of the civic body formed for eliciting the views of stakeholders. The team of the corporation officials is led by S. Ajayaghosh, Town Planning Officer of the corporation. The response of the general public to the plea of the corporation was overwhelming and more people were participating in the process, Mr. Ajayaghosh said.

Meeting with MLAs

Meanwhile, corporation officials and administrators will meet the legislators and MPs from the district on Saturday at the corporation council hall.

"The meeting with the MLAs and MPs are important as they have important roles to play in the programme," said Mercy Williams, Kochi Mayor.

The mission authorities had earlier forwarded a list of amendments in laws and administrative practices that are to be implemented in phased manner to be eligible for receiving the assistance from the Rs.50,000-crore project. Kochi was selected as urban agglomerate with one million plus population, whereas Thiruvananthapruam was selected in the list of State capital cities. The support of MLAs and MPs are needed in passing the amendments at the State-level and also in Parliament. Their views and suggestions on the development of the city and adjoining areas will also be included in the plan, said Ms. Williams.

The corporation officials led by C.K. Manisankar, Deputy Mayor, are in the process of explaining the JNNURM projects to the panchayats that have been selected to be included in the ambit of the mission. Meetings were held in Maradu, Thripunithura and Thiruvankulam panchayats. More meetings have been planned in the coming days, civic authorities said.

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