Several projects to promote agriculture and considerable allocations for health and social welfare figure in the Kollam district panchayat’s Budget for 2020-21. The budget presented by vice president S.Venugopal here on Friday envisages a surplus of ₹6.41 crore with a projected revenue of ₹174.68 crore and an expenditure of ₹168.27 crore.
Poliyopoli, a project to protect polders and extend paddy farming, gets an outlay of ₹1 crore. While ₹50 lakh has been set aside for Randidangazhi, a project for promoting paddy cultivation in schools, Anganathaimavu, a scheme to distribute quality saplings of mango, cashew and jackfruit, gets an equal amount.
Waterbodies
Another ₹1 crore goes for the protection of waterbodies and sacred groves in the districts as part of the Sujalam and Poongavanam projects.
While an agro service centre will be started in the district spending ₹50 lakh, various farms functioning under the panchayat will get a facelift this financial year and ₹2 crore has been allocated for their infrastructure development.
Dairy farmers will be given ₹1.3 crore as subsidy and ₹50 lakh has been set aside for starting farm tourism at the high-tech dairy farm in Kuriyottumala and the District Agricultural Farm, Anchal.
Industry parks
The industry parks at Kareepra and Patharnapuram will receive ₹50 lakh for infrastructure development while another ₹50 lakh has been set aside for cooperative societies to start production units and marketing centres.
The health sector receives an allocation of ₹2 crore for various projects including Senhasammanam, Swapnachiraku, Snehathooval, Mathruswanthanam, Naipunyam and infertility clinic. The Kollam District Hospital gets ₹50 lakh for infrastructure development and District Ayurvedic Hospital ₹50 lakh for starting a Shalakya (ENT) section.
The first phase of Charaka National Ayurvedic Research Centre, a project to upgrade District Ayurvedic Hospital as a research centre, gets an allocation of ₹1 crore.
As part of promoting healthy lifestyle in children, ₹50 lakh has been set aside for starting mini open gymnasiums in ten schools. While ₹one crore has been allocated for purchasing furniture for various high schools and higher secondary schools functioning under the panchayat, the Velicham project that provides laptop, LED projector and screen to libraries gets ₹25 lakh.
Welfare of SC/ST
The panchayat Budget also has a string of projects for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community and ₹45 lakh has been set aside for giving meritorious scholarships for the students.
A ₹2-crore project for providing residential education for students from the community also figures in the Budget. While ₹1 crore has been allocated for stadium renovations and construction of open gymnasiums, Pennidam, a project to start rest rooms for women by roadsides, will receive ₹50 lakh.
