While housing and sanitation received top priority, a string of projects focusing on infrastructure and employment generation also feature in the 2022-23 Kollam Corporation Budget.
The Budget showing a revenue of ₹1,292.81 crore, expenditure of ₹1,193.41 crore and surplus of ₹99.40 crore was presented by Deputy Mayor Kollam Madhu here on Saturday.
The Kollam city Corporation, which stands much ahead in the implementation of LIFE Mission, has allocated ₹50.4 crore for housing schemes. The Corporation that had generated maximum working days under the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme (AUEGS) has earmarked ₹40 crore for the scheme. While the Suchitwam project for making the city garbage-free gets an allocation of ₹13.7 crore, a total of ₹31.92 crore has been set aside for a sewage treatment plant.
Tourism
Tourism is an area of focus and a project connecting 55 divisions will receive ₹23.38 crore. The lorry stand in the city will be converted into a mobility hub spending ₹30 crore. A sum of ₹12.4 crore has been allocated for drinking water connections. Another important allocation is for protecting Ashtamudi Lake, a designated Ramsar site. While ₹5.4 crore has been set aside for the purpose, a project to rejuvenate ponds in all divisions will get ₹3.6 crore. Various renovation and beautification works related to lake protection will receive nearly ₹5 crore and ₹25 lakh will go to the ‘Ini Njan Ozhukatte’ project.
Training to youngsters
Deepangal and Skilltech, two projects offering training to professionally qualified youngsters, will receive ₹1.1 crore and ₹5.9 crore respectively. While ₹5.9 crore will go into promoting organic farming, traditional industries will receive ₹8.9 crore. A night street offering quality food will be set up spending ₹1 crore while ₹3 crore has been allocated for the rehabilitation of street vendors.
