Kerala budget: Slight increase in local body fund; poverty eradication by 2025

THIRUVANATHAPURAM, Kerala: With the increasing responsibility of the local bodies institutions their budget has also been increased to 28.09 per cent of the state budget for 2024-25. In the previous year, the share of local bodies stood at 26.5 per cent, while this time, this share is 27.19 per cent or ₹8,532 crore.

MB Rajesh, Minister for Local Self Government, Kerala, praised the finance minister for increasing his department’s share despite the financial crunch.

As part of the budget allocation, ₹180 crore has been earmarked for the solid waste management project executed by civic bodies and municipal corporations. Additionally, an amount of ₹4,131.19 crore has been allocated as a maintenance fund, and ₹2,542.27 has been set aside as a general purpose fund.

Witnessing the financial conditions of the urban local bodies in the state, the finance minister said that they could also mobilise funds through loans from financial institutions or by floating municipal bonds if needed. He said that the government will provide all possible assistance to initiatives started by the local bodies, including industrial parks, public enterprises and commercial centres, for which an amount of ₹100 crore has been allocated.

The government has also set aside ₹50 crore for the poverty alleviation programme. A total of 64,006 poverty-stricken families have been identified through a survey, and the government is looking to bring them out of poverty by the end of November 2025. The state government has prepared micro plans to address the specific needs of these families. According to Balagopal, almost half of these families have been lifted out of poverty.

The local bodies department has been given the responsibility to implement the state government’s initiative to impart constitutional literacy to the entire state population.