With polls in sight, budget favours KC(M) backed projects in Kottayam

With the Assembly election drawing closer, the State Budget has delivered a series of significant allocations for Kottayam district, with several projects backed by the Kerala Congress (M) and Devaswom Minister V. N. Vasavan receiving priority.

The K. M. Mani Memorial Government General Hospital in Pala has been allocated a total of ₹25 crore, including ₹20 crore for the second phase of the Radiation Oncology Block and ₹5 crore for the construction of a compound wall. Science City, Kottayam, will receive nearly a quarter of the ₹30.70 crore earmarked for science and technology centres across the district.

The Budget allocation for the Meenachil Valley irrigation project, meanwhile, has been enhanced to ₹5.5 crore, with an additional ₹2.5 crore provided this year.

A sum of ₹10 crore has been set aside for the construction of a rice mill in Ettumanoor under the Kerala Paddy Procurement Processing and Marketing Co operative Society (KAPCOS), an initiative proposed by Mr. Vasavan. In addition, ₹5 crore has been allocated for the construction of a heliport as part of the Kumarakom tourism development project, which also falls within the Minister’s Assembly constituency.

Other key allocations include ₹7 crore for the functioning of the Srinivasa Ramanujan Institute for Basic Sciences at Pampady and ₹11.50 crore for various activities of the K. R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts at Thekkumthala near Pala. Despite legal hurdles in land acquisition for the proposed Sabarimala International Greenfield Airport at Erumely, the Budget has provided ₹4.96 crore towards project related expenses, including payments under the EPC contract.

The 447-year old Kottayam Cheriya Palli (St. Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Kottayam), a Marian pilgrimage centre, has been allotted ₹2 crore for facility upgrades under a pilgrimage tourism project. Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, will also benefit from the ₹259.09 crore allocated to strengthen universities under the Higher Education Department.