Corporation's Next Budget Will Reflect Total Involvement Of The Councillors
From the next financial year, the Coimbatore Corporation’s budget may reflect total involvement of the Councillors in its preparation. Works and outlays will be prioritised in the budget as per the needs in the wards. And, these needs will be identified by the councillors and placed before those tasked with the preparation of the budget. A decision to this effect was taken at a grievances redress meeting on Thursday at the West Zone office of the Corporation. Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra and West Zone Chairman V.P. Selvaraj, officials and councillors took part in the meeting.
The Commissioner said a list of works would be provided to the Councillors through the Assistant Engineers in the wards. The Councillors could take stock of the situation in the ward and prioritise works in the list and submit it to the Corporation. This would get reflected in the budget. The Corporation is embarking on this project after finding out that there is a huge gap between the budget and the expectations in the wards in terms of development works. Apart from what the Councillors suggest, the Corporation will also incorporate in the budget what it also has planned for the wards.
This will be yet another step towards bringing out an “Outcome Budget” that the Central Government’s infrastructure development programme, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, insists on. With Coimbatore being one of the 63 mission cities, the programme’s guidelines mandate that the Corporation’s budget must be implemented totally.
Therefore, the schemes announced in it must be feasible and meet the requirements of the people. Now, the plan to involve the Councillors is aimed at including such schemes in the budget. The Corporation has de-centralised its grievances redress meetings. Instead of holding the meetings at the main office, these will be held at the four zone offices on a rotational basis. Corporation officials said after the first meeting at West Zone that the Councillors too found it convenient to have the meeting at the zone-level.
Each zone will have a meeting every month. The first Wednesday is for East Zone and the next three will be for West Zone, North Zone and South Zone respectively. Though Thursday’s was the first such meeting, the Corporation decided to hold in West Zone instead of East Zone so that the fixed cycle was not broken. The Councillors will have an important role to play in this programme also. Their opinion will also be sought on the grievances aired by the public and on what measures can be taken to redress these.
