District budget eyewash
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The Ernakulam district panchayat presented a rather eye-washing budget for 2012-13 on Thursday, laying little thrust on problems like waste management and water supply.
The district panchayat also attempted to hijack several national and state projects including the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) ones by mentioning it in the budget.
The second budget of the current administration has focused on health and education without concrete new plans, and has envisaged an income of Rs 920 crore and expenditure of Rs 870 crore with Rs 50 crore considered as the surplus amount.
Presenting the budget, Ms Bindu George, vice-president of Ernakulam district panchayat, said the budget, with its importance in health and education sectors, aims to nurture the children and the youth in the district to model citizens.
The ruling bench hailed the budget while the opposition termed it ‘an imaginative one' with no link to reality.
Though the budget failed to come up with a definite solution for the waste management menace, it did offer Rs 150 crore for a project to generate electricity from waste, which was earlier envisaged by the district collector P I Sheikh Pareeth.
The budget appeared as a boost for the Aluva taluk hospital which will get Rs 26.5 crore. These projects will be implemented with the help of NRHM. The budget also offers Rs 350 crore for the comprehensive health security project in the district.
Under the education sector, the budget promises to build new blocks for the high schools and higher secondary schools in the district, using Rs 75 crore and Rs 4 crore funds respectively. Rs 10 crore will be used to protect the tributaries of Periyar river.
The budget also promises to contribute Rs 23 crore for the maintenance of roads in the district.
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