Kerala - Kottayam   

Budget focusses on health, housing

Staff Reporter

Annual budget of Kottayam district panchayat presented

KOTTAYAM: The annual budget of Kottayam district panchayat for the year 2007-08 shows a total income of Rs.56.94 crore and an expenditure of Rs.51.91 crore. A sum of Rs.5.03 crore remains unmarked for any specific project. The budget, which focusses on projects in sanitation, housing and health, hopes to pool in resources from various sources for the implementation of the projects.

Presenting the budget, Mohan Thomas, convener, standing committee on finance, said of the total fund available, Rs.13.60 crore would form the Plan share from the State budget. A sum of Rs.4.01 crore has been earmarked for special component plan, while Rs.97.56 lakh has been set apart for the tribal sub-plan. Of the plan fund share, Rs.8.61 crore has been earmarked for the general fund.

A key project envisaged in the budget aims at providing shelter to all the people in the district within the next five years. Those belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) would be covered under the already existing projects. Other weaker sections in society would be covered under a programme which envisages the pooling in of resources by the district panchayat, the financial institutions and the beneficiary.

Survey

A survey would be conducted to ensure that all families belonging to the SC/ST sections are covered under the housing project, he said.

The budget proposes to remove bottlenecks in the effective implementation of the Total Sanitation Mission in the district. Setting up of biogas plants would be made mandatory for all hotels in the district. To make the ban on plastic more effective, Kudumbasree units would be encouraged to set up paper and cotton bag manufacturing units. Land would be made available for the construction of the district homoeo hospital, which now functions from a leased property. The budget also promises to invigorate the traditional industries in the district and computerise the district panchayat office.

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