Corporations set to take over Smart City works; Mayors’ Council seeks necessary steps from govt.

With the deadline for the Smart City projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi ending by June, the two civic bodies are now set to take over the implementation and the existing office mechanism of the special purpose vehicle. A meeting of the Mayors’ Council held in the capital on Monday requested the government to transfer all the assets to the civic bodies and to carry out the process without any curbing of their powers.

Though the assets like the electric buses procured for the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will be in the possession of the various agencies utilising it, the ownership will technically remain with the civic bodies, which spent funds for it.

In the Mayors’ Council meeting, chaired by Kochi Mayor M. Anilkumar, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran, Kollam Mayor Prasanna Ernest, Thrissur Mayor M.K. Varghese and Kozhikode Mayor M. Beena Philip participated. The meeting also reiterated its earlier demand to the government to release the development fund, pension fund and GST compensation amounts, considering the financial troubles of the civic bodies.

It has also been decided to take forward the ongoing waste management activities under the State government’s Malinya Muktham Navakeralam project, and to request the government for powers to appoint the required number of sanitation workers on a temporary basis.

The council also demanded that the various government departments including Irrigation and Public Works departments, as well as entities including the Indian Railways should carry out their share of responsibilities in the monsoon related cleaning activities. The council will convey to the Chief Minister the difficulties that the civic bodies face in handling these responsibilities without any support. The general sentiment in the council that the Minister for Local Self Governments should take up a coordinating role in this respect will also be conveyed to the Chief Minister.

The Corporations will also step up activities as part of the Digital Literacy Mission and the project for alleviation of extreme poverty.