Keralam’s Kochi Corporation in a tight spot over Plan fund utilisation

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With just over six months remaining in the ongoing fiscal, the Kochi Corporation is staring at a tightrope walk in Plan fund utilisation amid a reduced allocation by the Keralam government, which the Opposition alleges has been significantly scaled down, while the Central Finance Commission grant is yet to be received.

So far, the Corporation has received only ₹7.89 crore of the ₹23.67 crore Plan fund allocation from the State government. However, even this has effectively been reduced to ₹80.70 lakh after deductions at source amounting to ₹1.42 crore towards the wages of anganwadi workers and ₹5.65 crore towards the loan component for the purchase of land at Brahmapuram. The Opposition LDF is gearing up to intensify its protest against the alleged tardy utilisation of Plan funds by the Corporation.

“The State government’s Plan fund allocation for the Corporation has been brought down from ₹133 crore during the previous LDF government to a meagre ₹23.67 crore under the current UDF government. Funds are yet to be provided to applicants under the LIFE Mission and for scholarships to over 50 differently abled applicants from the previous year. Works currently being tendered are being executed using the Corporation’s own funds, while approval for projects has been secured from the District Planning Committee on the basis of loans. Spillover works from the previous fiscal are now largely under way,” said V.A. Sreejith, LDF parliamentary party leader.

It is also being pointed out that dependence on Central Finance Commission funds poses challenges since they are often not received on time, adversely affecting payments to contractors for works already executed.

However, Mayor V.K. Minimol countered the argument, claiming that the Corporation effectively has more funds at its disposal than before, citing the Central Finance Commission allocation of around ₹83 crore each under tied grants (for specific purposes only) and untied grants, in addition to the State government allocation of ₹23.67 crore.

Corporation sources said that, apart from a portion of the State government allocation, ₹8 crore under the Scheduled Tribe Component has been received. However, the Central government allocations are yet to be released.

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