UDF protests faltering Killiyar City Mission

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation has now come under scrutiny for the alleged lag in Killiyar City Mission. Opposition UDF held a protest on Tuesday in the city alleging that the civic body was neck deep in corruption with regard to the project and had misappropriated funds in the name of the mission. UDF councillors and other leaders demanded that the second round of cleaning should be done immediately in the civic body limits and demanded an investigation into the alleged corruption.

Aimed at cleaning, rejuvenating and reclaiming Killiyar and its banks, the project was launched a couple of years back with the corporation led Killiyar City Mission responsible for its part of the river and Nedumangad block panchayat led ‘Killiyar Mission’ being responsible for its. While the ‘Killiyar mission’ is set to complete its part of the 22-km-long river on Friday with active participation of 25,000 people from Vazhayila in Karakulam panchayat to Karinjathi Moola, the origin of Killiyar, the city mission allegedly hasn’t moved past announcements.

“The cleaning was not done successfully the first time around. They have not even closed the pipes that bring waste water into the river. There should be immediate action on this front and the Killiyar City Mission needs to move forward,” said Anil Kumar, UDF councillor, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

Terming the allegations baseless, Mayor K Sreekumar said Killiyar City Mission was a project undertaken by the city corporation in its budget.“As of now, cleaning works are under way using machinery in key areas including Manikandeshwaram where people won’t be able to do the cleaning work. Geo textiles will be used to protect the banks,” he said

“I would also like to know how corruption is possible in a project under the 2019-20 budget with an implementing officer. Killiyar City Mission has a budget of `50 lakhs to clean using machinery,” the mayor said.