Kerala - Kozhikode   

`Most civic problems tackled'

Biju Govind

Mayor gives a rundown of the works of Corporation council

Kozhikode: A year has passed since the present council of the city corporation came into being. After 12 months in office, the 21st Mayor of Kozhikode, M. Bhaskaran, find running civic affairs tougher than what he had expected.

"It is quite natural that governing civic bodies, especially municipal corporations, is difficult. But we have been able to tackle most of the problems and we need to go further," Mr. Bhaskaran told The Hindu here on Sunday.

The corporation was able to solve the Njeliyanparamba garbage dumping issue, said Mr. Bhaksaran, who was chairman of the Standing Committee on Health in the previous council. "The council is still taking every step to solve each and every issue associated with Njeliyanparamba."

He said the State Government had supported giving a new contract for running the garbage treatment plant, when Poabs Environ Tech decided to withdraw from the agreement, citing losses in operating the plant. The Socio Economic Foundation had now been entrusted with the contract on a trial basis for three months.

Removal of garbage in a systematic way was still a problem confronting the council. "The ban on plastic carry bags has been helpful. We have also introduced lorries with aluminium bodies to transport garbage. But we need to go further to improve the schemes," he said.

Wired office

The Mayor said one of the major achievements of the current council had been improving urban governance. Unlike in the past, people need not frequent departments in the corporation office for solving their problems. All details could be obtained at the click of a mouse on the ground floor. This was made possible by computerisation of the corporation office.

Mr. Bhaskaran said the council would release a citizens' charter before December 31. Similarly, a master plan for the city would be ready in November. The corporation had revived the World Bank-aided Reproductive and Child Health Project, with financial assistance from the Government.

The 27 sub-centres and nine main centres of the project would start functioning on November 1. "Resident public health nurses at the sub-centres would cater to wards, while the main centres would concentrate on deliveries," he said.

The Mayor said the Government had promised to provide Rs. 15 lakh for the project this fiscal and sufficient provisions in the coming budgets.

As part of the ongoing yearlong celebrations of the 140th anniversary of the corporation, the council had envisaged a few projects. Minister for Industries Elamaram Karim would inaugurate the Neelichira project in November. The project had technical support of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management.

Minister for local administration Paloli Mohammed Kutty would lay the foundation stone for an art gallery, near the Town Hall, on November 5. The Anakulam project and a community centre at Kovoor were among the projects, Mr. Bhaskaran said.

Trade fair

He said the proposed international trade fair would catapult the city into the global arena, making it a major trade and tourism centre of the State. The month-long fair would start on December 20. The Government had promised Rs. 1 crore for the purpose.

Mr. Bhaskaran said improvements had been made in the traffic system. Automatic electronic signals would be installed at four major junctions. One of them was inaugurated at the Rajaji Road Junction on Sunday.

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