Ruling, Opposition councillors lock horns over Kochi Corporation Budget

Discussions at the Kochi Corporation Council meeting on the Budget for 2025-26 witnessed ruling councillors of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) terming the Budget as one that positively influenced all aspects of city life, while the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) slammed the Budget as one that powered development projects through debts, including through municipal bonds, by pawning the civic body’s assets.

The LDF councillors claimed that the Budget fulfilled a majority of promises given to the people and gave a fillip to the future development of the city. The Budget embraced the impoverished while proposing creative projects for the development of the city. It put forward proposals for improving the Corporation’s financial position and enhancing its revenue.

The Budget, the ruling councillors claimed, was a modal of efficient fiscal management. The Corporation has succeeded in increasing revenues while reducing expenditures. The outstanding dues to contractors could be brought down from the previous 39 months to 24 months. There were no outstanding loans. The proposal for making ward-level approval for development projects sought to uphold high democratic values.

The Corporation could emerge first among the six Corporations in the State in terms of utilisation of funds. Even critics had to agree that Brahmapuram had changed beyond recognition thus proving the Corporation’s unprecedented success in waste management. The Corporation was able to implement around 50 new projects, the LDF claimed.

The Opposition UDF alleged that the Corporation had failed to even collect its own revenue and instead was edging towards a debt trap similar to the State government by proposing a debt-driven development modal. Local bodies were suffering due to the miscued fiscal policies of the State government. The Corporation was also heading down the same path, the UDF councillors alleged.

Awareness alone would not help in the fight against cancer and drug menace. Projects should be implemented to reduce the cost of treatment. The Opposition also alleged lack of transparency in the utilisation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds by the Corporation. CSR funds were being handed over to various agencies without proper monitoring. The Budget was devoid of any proposals to increase revenue, the UDF alleged.

The BJP councillors accused the Corporation of usurping Central projects by misrepresenting them as its own in the Budget. They mocked the LDF for taking the municipal bond route having opposed it in the past.