With just three working days left in the fiscal, the Kochi Corporation faces the uphill task of spending nearly half of its annual Plan funds.
The dash board maintained by the Local Self-Government department on the plan progress of local government institutions for the 2023-24 fiscal indicates that the Corporation could utilise only ₹44.58 crore, which accounts for 49.17% of its annual allocation. The annual allocation for the Corporation was to the tune of ₹90.66 crore. Interestingly, the civic body is the second highest achiever in the State in terms of utilising Plan funds. The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation topped the list by spending ₹120.49 crore, which is 58.71% of its annual Budget of ₹205.22 crore.
The financial crunch of the State government has hit the local bodies hard. The cash flow from the State government to the local bodies has almost stopped, which has virtually stalled all the development activities in the local bodies across the State, said Antony Kureethara, the leader of the Congress in the Kochi Corporation Council.
Many bills of completed projects are in queue, awaiting payment from the State government. With the number of unpaid bills and the pending amount going up, the contractors are either reluctant to take up new projects or hesitant to complete the ones awarded to them. K-Smart, the online payment system introduced in the State has collapsed, which has affected the collection of various taxes. The plummeted tax collection has also hit the revenue position of the local body. The local body too had failed to plan and implement the projects systematically, said Mr. Kureethara.
Civic administrators too concede that the poor financial condition of the State government has hit the performance of the civic body. Payment for a large number of completed projects is pending, they admitted.
The civic authorities hoped that the local body would be able to improve its spending in the next few days. The unspent funds and incomplete projects would be carried over to the next fiscal, they said.
