more-in KOCHI: Kochi Corporation is trailing behind all the six municipal corporations of the State in annual plan fund utilisation. In the week ending February 25, the local body could achieve only 19.87 %, which is the lowest among the corporations in the State. Kollam, which topped the list, achieved nearly double the spending (37.31 %), followed by Thiruvananthapuram (35.45 %). Thrissur Corporation, which ranked 5th, achieved 20.05 % utilisation of plan fund during the period. Lack of teamwork in the civic administration and delay in clearing bills from the Engineering Department have hit the spending of the civic body, according to a senior Local Self Government Department official who monitors the performance of local bodies across the State. “Local bodies should coordinate with various government departments, including Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes, to improve their performance,” he said. “Kochi cannot justify its poor performance by citing changing government instructions on spending, as it is common for all local bodies. Moreover, the government has made the proceedings simpler for local bodies to use their funds,” said the official who preferred not to be quoted. Incidentally, Mayor Soumini Jain had earlier blamed it on the transfer of senior corporation officials and frequent changes in guidelines. The official also indicated that the Ernakulam district panchayat had tremendously improved its performance after being alerted to its lackadaisical work. However, Kochi could not overcome its poor show despite being alerted to poor spending, the official said. Since February, all the 1,200 heads of civic bodies are being alerted everyday between 8.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. to their performance. The Kochi Mayor too might be getting alerts, the official said. A large number of bills are pending with the engineering department, and there has been no significant progress in the payment of bills. Had the department cleared the payments in time, the local body could have achieved 10 % more, the official added. Over the past decade, the performance of the corporation has been tardy, and it used to pick up towards the fag end of the fiscal. By March end, Kochi may slightly improve its performance and may end up in the 5th position, he said. Meanwhile, the LDF will stage an agitation before the corporation office on Monday, protesting against the poor performance of the local body.

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