Southern States - Kerala   

Agencies directed to complete projects

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM March 4. The Minister for Local Self-Governments, Cherkalam Abdulla, today urged agencies like the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Kerala Water Authority (KWA), Kerala State Housing Board (KSHB) and the Nirmithi Kendra to complete the execution of all projects for which the local self-government institutions had deposited funds with them.

He asked these agencies not to drag on the works indefinitely. His directive came at a meeting called by him to evaluate the progress of such projects.

The KSEB Chairman, T.M. Manoharan, told the meeting that his institution would attend to such works on a priority basis. He also said that if there had been any escalation in the expenses, the KSEB itself would be bearing the additional cost.

Mr. Manoharan attributed the delay in the execution of the projects to shortage of materials. But, this problem had been sorted out and the KSEB would strive to complete as many projects as possible before the end of this month itself.

During 1998-99, the local bodies had entrusted to the KSEB 4,131 `deposit works', of which 54 were yet to be taken up. Similarly, 760 out of 4,808 works entrusted during 2000-01, 1,916 out of 3,288 works entrusted during 2001-02 and 1,013 out of 1,219 works entrusted during 2002-03 were remaining unattended.

The Managing Director of the KWA, R. Ramanujam, said 1,515 out of 1,850 `deposit works' entrusted to the KWA had been completed so far. Due to non-availability of land, 32 works had been abandoned. He said 131 of the remaining projects would be completed before the end of this month.

Under their housing programmes, the local bodies had deposited a sum of Rs. 173 crores with the KSHB by way of the contribution of the beneficiaries. As many as 1,38,978 persons had applied for housing loans under the housing schemes of the local bodies. Of these, only 923 persons could be provided the entire loan amount. The officer who represented the KSHB at the meeting said this was because of the acute scarcity of funds. As and when more funds were received from Hudco, the remaining applicants too would be given loans, he added.

Mr. Abdulla told the meeting that the progress of the `deposit works' entrusted to the Nirmithi Kendra was extremely disappointing. Those who attended the meeting include the Principal Secretary for Power, Lissy Jacob, the Planning Secretary, S. M. Vijayanand, the Local Administration Secretary, P. Kamalkutty and the Director of Urban Affairs, Rani Jacob.

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