Thiruvananthapuram Corporation yet to get Pongala funds

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation has appealed to the state government to release the Pongala special funds that were promised but not released since 2013.

Earlier, around Rs 1.4 crore was promised for the development of around 28 festival zone wards but not a penny was released.

Around Rs 1.6 crore that was then promised for the years 2013-14 and 2015-15 for around 19 wards also has not  been released.

“Every year,  the Chief Minister and MLA Sivakumar convene meetings and announce crores of rupees for the development of wards under Attukal festival zone. However, they never give us money to do the work. The maintenance of roads, drains and street lights is  done by councillors using plan funds. So in short,  all the works you  see were those proposed by former councillors before the election,” said corporation works standing committee chairperson Rasiya Begum who is also Kalippankulam councillor.

“This month,  during the Attukal special meeting convened  by  Mr Oommen Chandy,  we  clearly said  that we need money and not promises. We will repeat the same in meeting that will be convened by Collector Biju Prabhakar on February 5,” she added.

This year, only minor patch work was done on the  arterial temple roads such as the severely damaged bund road.

Some other stretches like Manacaud-Attukal and Koncharavila- Attukal roads are yet to get a facelift for the Pongala season that commences in three weeks.  

The officials say that even the promised amount of Rs 5 lakh per ward is a petty figure considering the cost of road work.

“Five lakh will be over if you do concrete work or lay interlock tiles on two bylanes. Like in last year, only minor piece works can be done with the existing funds,” a corporation official said.