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Shanavas Padhoor

Feni, laughing clubs, and farm workers’ sena: This District Panchayat budget has it all

Kasaragod District Panchayat rolls out budget for 2022-23 with lots of ideas but not enough dough to back them up.

KASARGOD: Kasaragod district vice-president Shanavas Padhoor presented a surplus budget, high on ideas and perhaps flat in terms of allocation.

The budget advertised the District Panchayat’s resolve to enter into feni and winemaking, once the state government comes up with the liquor policy. In his budget speech, Padhoor labelled the idea as an attempt to "explore the possibilities" of creating value-added products from widely available fruits in the district.

But Padhoor’s ally and chairman of the standing committee for Welfare Shinooj Chacko uncorked the idea in his speech by saying that the district panchayat board has feni and wine on its mind. He said tonnes of cashew apples were being wasted in the district, where cashewnut is still widely grown. By making feni in Kasaragod, the consumption of alcohol would not go up, he said. "It will only end the import of feni from Goa and Maharashtra," he said. The move will also help the farmers of the district as they can channel the products through Bevco, he said.

Congress member Jomon Jose did not oppose the plan but suggested that the people’s opinion should be considered.

Ideas galore in budget

Padhoor restricted his speech to ideas and left the board members to read and decipher the boring numbers from the budget copies.

The allocation for the productive sector, which includes agriculture and dairy development, and fisheries, was Rs 7.62 crore, down from Rs 8.93 crore last year.

He earmarked Rs 5 lakh for the handicraft industry and Rs 20 lakh for small-scale industries and micro-enterprises. The two heads were missing from the budgets in the past two years. But he slashed the budget for the Revolving Fund for Kudumbashree Employment Programme to Rs 80 lakh from Rs 1.09 crore spent last year.

The allocation for the services sector, which includes health, education, child and women welfare, drinking water, and sanitation, saw a marginal increase (1.43%) this year. Padhoor set aside Rs 27.90 crore this year compared to Rs 27.50 crore last year.

He earmarked Rs 95 lakh for roads and public buildings, Rs 2 lakh more than last year.

Agriculture

Against the backdrop of farmers protesting for their rights, the district panchayat aims to set in motion a research-based development of agriculture, said Padhoor, who is also the chairman of the standing committee for finance.

An "agri-tech facility centre" would be set up in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, he said.

He also announced the setting up of an ’Agriculture Workers Army’ in every local body. Padhoor said the district panchayat would make farming the main occupation of the youth and the Agriculture Workers Army (Thozhil Sena).

Dairy development

The vice-president set aside Rs 1.2 crore for storage and marketing of dairy products, up from Rs 1.07 crore last year. In 2020-201, Rs 2.19 crore was spent under the head.

Rs 1.2 crore was earmarked for soil and water conservation, up from Rs 21 lakh last year. Padhoor said the efforts of the district in water conservation had led to an increase in groundwater levels.

Check dams

The District Panchayat has set aside Rs 17 lakh for minor irrigation projects. Most of it will be used to build rubberised check dams. He said 1,500 wells would be recharged by tapping money from other schemes. But his allocation for drinking water fell to Rs 2 crore from Rs 3.5 crore last year.

Tourism and public activities

The district panchayat plans to conserve water bodies and develop them into recreational places. Selected areas in the district would be developed as tourist hubs. Handicraft would be promoted with an eye on tourism.

More public space would be created.

An open auditorium would be built on the revenue land in Chattanchal, where vehicles impounded by police and revenue offices are dumped. The district panchayat would help set up mini food parks in public places to attract domestic guests. The first mini food park would come up along the District Panchayat road along Noombil river (Kalnad river) in Chembarika, he said.

Investors would also be encouraged to set up floating parks, he said.

Education and employment

Padhoor has earmarked Rs 1.1 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and other educational programmes, an increase of Rs 10.13 lakh from last year. However, he slashed the budget for education-related activities to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 67.81 lakh. Financial assistance for SC/ST students for higher education admission has also been cut to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1.35 crore.

Reading rooms and libraries get no money in this budget. Last year, they got Rs 16 lakh.

Though the district has around 102 anganwadis without their own buildings, the district panchayat budget allocates zero money for Anganwadi infrastructure. Last year, he had set aside Rs 3 lakh for it.

Padhoor has allocated zero money for sports in his two budgets. But this year, he announced that one school in each educational sub-district would be selected and a sport would be assigned to it. The district panchayat would provide all equipment and create a modern facility for the development of the particular sport in the school.

Schools will get smart classrooms, furniture, labs, water purifiers, accessible toilets for students with disabilities, apart from girls and boys-friendly toilets.

A programme called ’Clean Slate’ would be launched to tackle drug abuse among children and youths.

Gender-friendly books and shelves would be distributed to recognised libraries.

Children with special needs

BUDS school for children with special needs would be set up in collaboration with gram panchayats.

The district panchayat would help set up self-employment units in endosulfan-affected areas to make the survivors financially independent, he said.

Women-friendly district

This budget is preparing the grounds to make the district women-friendly, the district vice-president announced.

’Take a break’ restrooms would be set up in the district, he said.

Funds have been earmarked to give subsidised loans to women entrepreneurs, he said.

In the budget, Women’s welfare programmes get Rs 65 lakh, Rs 1 lakh more than last year.

Development programmes for women and children get Rs 10 lakh, Rs 1 lakh less than last year.

Healthcare

The District Panchayat proposes to set up Laughing Clubs as part of giving importance to the Happiness Index. Children and elderly people would benefit from the Laughing Club, the vice-president said.

Cancer detection camps would be organised in the district.

Padhoor earmarked Rs 10 lakh to improve the standards of the District Hospital, down from Rs 62.78 lakh allocated in 2020-21, but substantially high from Rs 1 lakh spent last year.

However, the allocation for the Ayurveda District Hospital has been slashed by 50% to Rs 10 lakh.

In the budget speech, the vice-president said Kasaragod was yet to become a waste-free district. He said the district panchayat was looking forward to making a collaborative intervention in waste management with support from local bodies.

In the budget, he earmarked zero money for public sanitation and waste management.

Special mentions

In the budget, the vice-president said the district panchayat in collaboration with the Central University of Kerala would conduct an ’economic survey’ and based on the input would design programmes for welfare and poverty alleviation.

To ensure that there is no one without a house in the district, he allocated Rs 7.5 crore, Rs 41.66 lakh more than last year.

Total income: Rs 77.15 crore

Total expenditure: Rs 76.66

Surplus: Rs 49.35 lakh