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Even when committed expenditures like payment of welfare pensions and financial assistance remain pending, the Kerala government has sanctioned an amount of INR 10.72 crore for organising the Onam week (August 27 to September 2) celebrations in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram and all district headquarters, this year.
The highest amount of INR 2.29 crore will be spent on paying the invited artists and conducting the Onam pageantry. While INR 2.09 crore will be spent on creating temporary infrastructure, INR 97.12 lakh will go towards branding and publicity. An amount of INR 6.65 crore will be spent in the capital city alone.
Another INR 3.20 crore will go towards the celebrations conducted by the district tourism promotion councils in the 14 districts.
In addition to the funds earmarked for the districts, which would be grossly inadequate given the scale of celebrations, the district collectors heading the DTPC use the state machinery to get private sponsorships for the events. Incidentally, there has been criticism in the past over government officials approaching realty dealers, builders and operators of quarries and crushers for sponsorships.
The cabinet on Wednesday approved the tourism department’s decision to pick Trishul Buildtech and Infrastructures Pvt Ltd to develop, operate and maintain one of its prime properties in the capital, the ‘Panaji Park’, for which the department will earn INR 63 lakh in annual licence fees. The riverfront property was earlier leased to Mandovi Hotels Pvt Ltd. The tourism department took back possession of the property on August 26 last year.
The government’s keenness for the Onam bash this year comes as a surprise as in 2016 the Pinarayi government had issued an order prohibiting government servants from participating in Onam celebrations during duty hours to save ‘government time and money’.Meanwhile, the government is holding back payments under various schemes due to a financial crunch. For example, the one-time financial assistance of up to INR 2 lakh to the family of economically backward SC families in case of death of the sole breadwinner has been pending in hundreds of cases.
Among the other pending payments are the scholarships to deserving students, honorarium for anganwadi workers, welfare board pensions and one-time financial assistance for several deserving sectors. After contractors refused to undertake government works due to payment delay, a discounted payment system in tie-up with banks was rolled out for them. The burning issue of KSRTC salary crisis also remains unresolved.
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