RailEnquiry

Uncertainty clouds the fund allocation for the construction of a platform at the Kadakkavoor railway station. There appears to be lack of clarity within the Corporation council itself regarding the volume of garbage that the civic body will be transporting to the station.In a bid to iron out these confusions and get the project under way without delay, Corporation health standing committee chairperson S. Pushpalatha met Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali on Wednesday and secured a promise that a meeting would be scheduled with the officials of the Southern Railway later this week to form a clear idea on the funding.Mayor K. Chandrika had earlier submitted a letter to the Minister saying that 3,000 tonnes of garbage would be transported to the railway station for platform construction. But according to an estimate by the Suchitwa Mission, only less than half the amount will be required for construction. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.42 lakh and it will be financially unviable for the civic body to fund the project entirely from its Plan Fund.Moreover, the quantity of garbage required needs to be specified as cost for the project will vary accordingly. The health standing committee says the Corporation cannot shell out the entire amount, and is awaiting a green signal from the government allotting the amount.

Biogas plants

The issue of setting up 62 large biogas plants across the city and allotting the Rs.7 crore required for the project was also raised. The meeting was informed that the Ministry had forwarded the matter to the Suchitwa Mission. A Mission official said the Corporation would have to file a report on the projects implemented the past financial year under the source-based waste management programme. Any balance fund from the fiscal could also be used for the project.