Opposition calls bluff on Kochi city budgetary claims

Despite the ruling UDF hailing the Corporation  budget presented on Saturday as a dream one,the Opposition LDF was scathing in its criticism of the proposals.  

KOCHI: Despite the ruling UDF hailing the Corporation  budget presented on Saturday as a dream one,the Opposition LDF was scathing in its criticism of the proposals.  


According to K J Antony, the Leader of Opposition, the budget had no new proposals to highlight and majority of them were a carryover from last year. 


“How could they proudly present such a budget? The Corporation has implemented only a few projects while the others still remain on paper. Since the expenditure of the new projects announced would come to `250 crore, the maximum revenue generation from the new proposals would be just `60 crore,” he said.


Moreover,Antony said the civic body should release a white paper to justify the budgetary claims. 
“Most of the figures posted by the ruling council are tweaked. There is no proper data on the number of hoardings and the income generation. Though,the Corporation has a liability running into several crore, it is given a quite burial during the budget presentation, in order, to prevent the loss of face,” he said. 


The Council’s alleged failure to formulate a water policy and the hike in the building tax for the areas situated near the Metro stations came in for flak from the Opposition.   


“They had wasted the several crore received as Central grant under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM).If they were unable to implement even the Centrally-sponsored projects how could the Corporation be expected to implement own projects,” Antony said.

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