Farming, waste management, health and education sectors received major focus in the Kottayam District Panchayat’s annual Budget for 2020-21 presented on Monday.
The Budget, presented by Shoba Salimon, vice-president of the local body, envisages total revenue of ₹91.78 crore and an expenditure of ₹87.52 crore, with a surplus of ₹4.26 crore. District Panchayat president Sebastian Kulathungal presided over the presentation.
Waste-free district
The District panchayat, which aims to make Kottayam the first complete waste-free district in the country, has set aside ₹2.57 crore for its flagship programme of Clean Kottayam-Green Kottayam. The programme envisages establishing household waste management units, collection of non-degradable waste using the Haritha Karma Sena, sanitation complex at the district level and a special facility to process wastes from the abattoir units, among other things.
In the education sector, plans are afoot to establish the second phase of the Able-Kottayam project. Under the project, special coaching will be given to school students in subjects including English and Mathematics, besides offering them sessions of career guidance and aptitude examinations.
In the primary sector, the farmers will be distributed seeds while assistance will be given for inland fish fishery and poultry farming. The Budget also includes a provision of milk incentive for the diary farmers. The de-silting of canals and restoration of bunds will be carried out under the ‘Sujalam’ project.
A new project called ‘Can Kottayam-Fit Kottayam,’ which envisages offering cancer detection facility for all people, will be implemented at a cost of ₹1.2 crore. A Mamogram unit will be established at the Kottayam General Hospital at ₹2.3 crore.
LIFE Mission
A sum of ₹10.34 crore will be set aside for expansion of the LIFE Mission programme while the primary infrastructure in all high schools and higher secondary schools will be expanded at ₹4.6 crore. Allocations have been also made towards nutritional food for anganwadi units, scholarship for the differently-abled, establishing disable-friendly lifts and palliative care programmes.
The Budget presentation, held at the District Panchayat office, was carried out in line with the directions issued by the Health Department. A sanitation drive was carried out at the venue just ahead of the Budget presentation while the entry to the budget presentation was restricted to the members of the panchayat council.
