ALAPPUZHA: The Budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister K M Mani has made substantial allocations for the development of Kuttanad. Though this has pleased Kuttanad MLA Thomas Chandy, he wants more funds to solve the problems plaguing the region. As an agrarian constituency, the budgetary allocation of crores of rupees for the development of the farm sector in the constituency has been welcomed. While `10 crore has been allotted to establish a Rice Park in Kuttanad, `10 crore has been allotted for an International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea-level Farming in Kuttanad. The Finance Minister had said that the centre will be based in Kumarakom, but the MLA said he will try to get it established within the Kuttanad constituency.Developmental works under Kuttanad package has been given `175 crore. The budget has allocated `50 crore for paddy cultivation. The Kuttanad MLA expects a major share of that amount for his constituency as rice cultivation is done on a larger scale there. A coconut biopark has been proposed and `5 crore allocated for the purpose. The budget has proposed desalination plants for Kuttanad and the coastal areas and has allocated `15 crore for it. An amount of `55 crore has been allotted for the development of tourism spots. As Kuttanad is a tourism spot, a part of that allocation is expected here, Thomas Chandy said. There is a budgetary allocation of `12 crore for sea planes - a new proposal aimed at developing the tourism sector in the state. The MLA expects that, like famous tourism spots, Kuttanad and Vembanad lake will get a sea plane strip. He said that the climate and other circumstances are suitable for setting up a sea plane strip in Vembanad lake. However, the MLA complained that the budget has neglected the basic problems of farmers in Kuttanad. The Civil Supplies Corporation has been distributing the price of procured paddy after 3-4 months. The farmers collected money for farming by pledging ornaments and by availing of loans from local money-lenders. “If the government allocates `100 crore to the corporation to procure paddy, the farmer’s money could be distributed without delay. And this will be really beneficial for the farmers,” the MLA said.“Lack of proper roads to access the paddyfields is a problem that needs to be solved. I had suggested to build some bridges here. The budget has not allocated any money for the bridges,” the MLA said. He said that, in the long run, the farmers will benefit from the Coconut biopark and the Rice Park. Immediate attention is needed for the development of basic infrastructure for farmers. “In the budget session, I had asked the Finance Minister to allocate more funds to solve the basic infrastructure problems,” Chandy said.
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