THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has decided to pay Rs 1.36 crore from its JNNURM fund to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in order to improve the water supply scheme and strengthen the distribution network around the Corporation and adjoining panchayat areas. This was announced by Mayor V K Prasanth at the council meeting here on Tuesday.
Most of the BJP and UDF councillors protested against the decision pointing out that several old works taken up by the KWA are still pending which is one of the major reason for the water crisis in the city. However, the Mayor said the Corporation is paying the amount to revive several pending projects.
CPI councillor Solomon Vettukad said though the KWA has already laid the pipe connections at various areas in Shanghumugham ward none of them is operational. “When already old projects are pending here there is no use in spending more money to begin new works,” said Solomon. Meanwhile, BJP councillor Karamana Ajith said the Corporation needs to appoint a separate monitoring committee to assess the KWA-related projects.
The Mayor said the Corporation has spent Rs 40 crore to revive several pending projects under the KWA. “We had a discussion with the Minister regarding the delay in the works and have also requested him to renew the plan implementation calendar to speed up the process,” said Prasanth.
However, BJP councillor K Anilkumar locked horns with the Mayor over the mass cleaning of Killi River in the council meeting. While he termed the ruling dispensation used the cleaning drive for political gains, the Mayor downplayed the allegations.
“Even though the Corporation had announced that there would be around 25,000 participants involved in the mass cleaning drive, there were only around 2,500 volunteers on that particular day. Such a downfall in the number of participants occurred as the ruling party tried to make the whole event a political issue instead of an awareness campaign,” said Anilkumar.
Denying the allegations, the Mayor said the councillor was trying to misguide people by raising false allegations.
LDF councillor R P Shivaji said the Killiyar Mission saw huge public participation.
“Though the expected crowd was not seen, still the event was a success in terms of spreading awareness among the public. So, I request the Mayor to organise a second phase of the Killiyar Mission for further cleaning the 24-km-long stretch,” said Shivaji.
The local body council passed the rest of the agendas presented by the standing committee chairpersons without much objection.