Mayor Thottathil Ravindran has headed to the State capital to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Cabinet colleagues for taking up various issues pertaining to the Kozhikode Corporation.
A major task is getting the nod of the Local Administration Department to publish the master plan for Kozhikode urban area. “I will be in Thiruvananthapuram for two days from Wednesday. A few components in the master plan need to be examined and reworked. But first we should secure sanction for its publication,” The Mayor told The Hindu on Tuesday.
State sitting on file for 9 months
The State government has been sitting on the 300-page final master plan file for the past nine months. The approval to publish the master plan was stalled after the model code of conduct came into effect with the announcement of the Assembly polls in March. It was actually sent to the government by the Joint Town Planning Committee (JTPC) chaired by former Mayor A.K. Premajam in August, 2015.
Mr. Ravindran will apprise Minister for Local Administration K.T. Jaleel of the urgent need to give sanction to publish the master plan. “Currently, the Kozhikode urban area relies on the third master plan for the city prepared by the Calicut Development Authority in 1980, giving a headache to the civic body,” he said.
The Kozhikode urban area comprises the Kozhikode Corporation, Feroke and Ramanattukara municipalities and Olavanna and Feroke grama panchayats. At least by the year end, the final master plan should be notified in the State Gazette, he said.
This apart, Mr. Ravindran said the purpose of his visit to the Capital was also to invite the Chief Minister for a reception by the City Corporation Council. After becoming the Chief Minister, Mr. Vijayan was in the city early this month, but the civic body had not officially accorded him any reception, he said.
