COIMBATORE : The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has failed to implement many projects announced in the annual budget for the current financial year 2023-24. The civic body didn’t even commence half of the project works that were announced due to a host of issues ranging from fund crunch to manpower shortage.
The CCMC’s annual budget for the current FY 23-24 was tabled on March 31, 2023, in which the mayor announced a total of 56 projects for the current FY. With the current fiscal ending in about 43 days, the majority of these projects remain only on paper.
With the Tamil Nadu government all set to table its budget on Feb 19, Monday, the CCMC will likely be tabling its budget for the next FY 2024-25 soon. The civic body is gearing up for the budget session even as the already-announced projects remain unfinished.
Social activists and the public have pointed out that the announcements made by the civic body last year were just an eyewash and said that even this year’s budget announcements will be a gimmick to hoodwink the masses in view of the upcoming election.
S Vivin Saravan, a social activist from Gandhi Park, told TNIE that this has been the case every single year and the civic body has been making empty announcements without implementing them.
“Due to the CCMC’s negligence, people’s beloved VOC Zoological park was shut down permanently. The CCMC announced that they will be turning the space into a birds’ park. However, no steps were taken for it. Similarly, a lot of projects announced during the budget have not been executed. The next budget is around the corner and the CCMC is getting ready with its next set of fake announcements. The councillors and officials are fooling the people with such announcements that are mere eyewash,” he added.
Sources in the CCMC have cited a list of issues for not being able to implement the projects. Fund crunch, manpower shortage, frequent transfer of officials and lack of cooperation between the civic body officials and councillors among others are some of the main reasons for the failure of the CCMC to execute the projects announced in the budget.
“Transferring officials, especially the commissioners has dented the progress of the project. While the former commissioner had a different vision, the current one has different perspectives. And so, certain projects announced during the former’s tenure are being altered or dropped,” added the sources.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, “Announcing a project in the budget doesn’t mean that it will be executed in that current year. Certain projects will take time and certain projects need to be revised. Also, a few projects might get dropped due to certain reasons. So, whatever projects have been left, we shall add them to the next budget and shall execute them in the next financial year”
When enquired about it, Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar refused to comment on the matter and said she would look into it.