GHMC ready for a makeover

Civic chief defends merger of 21 panchayats

"During the period 2007-2010 there were 12 municipalities which were merged into GHMC. Earlier, these municipalities never spent more than Rs 5 cr on development, but after they came under GHMC their budgets grew exponentially. We have been spending Rs 70 cr per year towards development. Enforcement and implementation will be the focus in the new areas coming under GHMC limits"

A comprehensive plan to restructure GHMC is being implemented in view of the recent merger of 21 gram panchayats. In line with the Prasada Rao Committee’s recommendations, the Commissioner is ready to increase the number of circles to 30 and recruit 2,607 more personnel. The exercise is expected to help improve delivery of services

As for the proposed 30 circles, there would be 1.75 lakh people under the purview of each circle; except for Old City areas, where each of the circle offices would cover 2.5 lakh people. An eight- member team will monitor the administration of the circle offices. A Deputy Commissioner will be heading the team, which comprises, among others, Engineering AE, Electrical AE, Sanitary Inspector and other officials

Aditya Parankusam & TSS Siddharth

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is all set to become more people-friendly. About six months after the state government accepted the recommendations of the Prasada Rao Committee, the civic body chief is now mulling implementation of some of the panel’s recommendations.

Since the GHMC was formed in April 2007 with the merger of 12 surrounding municipalities, it has continued to function with the same 18 circles that were in existence as part of the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad’s administrative set-up. The GHMC authorities are now planning to increase the number of circles to 30. The officials say that this would make GHMC more approachable and accountable.

Some of the present circles have close to around 5-10 lakh people under its purview. Even for small complaints, people have to go all the way to the circle office. Sadly there are not enough personnel in the circle offices to quickly address various issues. With the addition of 21 panchayats to GHMC, questions are being raised if the GHMC is biting off more than it can chew and whether the mechanism for redressal of issues would become even more complicated.

As the government has given the green light for increasing the number of circles to 30 and augmenting staff by adding 2607 more personnel, GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu is ready to implement changes. As for the proposed 30 circles, there would be 1.75 lakh people under the purview of each circle; except for Old City areas, where each of the circle offices would cover 2.5 lakh people. An eight- member team will monitor the administration of the circle offices. A Deputy Commissioner will be heading the team, which comprises, among others, Engineering AE, Electrical AE, Sanitary Inspector and other officials. Each official will have ground level personnel reporting to them at every ward in the circle.

The GHMC currently has 2,300 personnel on rolls and the commissioner is reportedly contemplating to add 2607 more. Sources say that these personnel would be recruited from Hyderabad District within the GHMC limits. However, the so-called restructuring has garnished the GHMC with more criticism than praise. There are several apprehensions in people’s minds regarding how the re-structuring would actually benefit denizens and how far the GHMC will go to do justice to all the new panchayats it has taken under its wings.

Hitting the nail on the head, the Forum for a Better Hyderabad, in its note to the GHMC and other authorities, has highlighted some of the hurdles that the GHMC would have to leap over to sustain ‘Greater Hyderabad’. Some of the sore points that they have pulled out include the massive influx of migrants and their recognition, increased pressure on the city’s already stretched infrastructure, centralisation of power and dilution of accountability under the new widened limits.

In particular, the forum pointed out that in the case of certain mega cities like São Paulo, Rio, Jakarta, Mexico City, Cairo, Delhi and Beijing, many well-to-do citizens and corporate bodies were moving out, driven away by high costs, crime and deteriorating quality of life. Further, according to the forum, already the public perception is that GHMC has confined its developmental activities to certain ‘privileged areas’ like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Madhapur, Gachibowli, Kondapur and certain other areas. This being so, the forum questioned GHMC’s credentials in expanding its reach to other panchayats.

Responding to these queries, M T Krishna Babu, Commissioner, GHMC, said, “The government has its own way of thinking on how to develop a particular area. When they took this decision, they have thought about the pros and cons.” On the question of migration, the Commissioner asserted that there were no unaccounted migrants in the city. The GHMC has a tab on the influx of migrants into the city. “This move is a planned move of integrating the 21 other panchayats into the Greater Hyderabad limits. It is evident that there has been a lot of unplanned growth in these gram panchayats.

Things had not been working out the way they were intended to shape up. For example, in Nizampet it has become easy for constructions to crop up without any permission, mainly due to malpractices, including graft. If such areas come into the GHMC following merger, eventually there will be a systematic improvement. Further, we would be able to curb unfair practices like bribes. They have had a very haphazard growth without any control. But, now if we merge them with the GHMC, it would prove beneficial for them. It is better to wake up early than leave them in this state. The town planning and execution in these panchayats was very weak,” said the Commissioner.

“During the period 2007-2010, there were 12 municipalities which were merged into GHMC. Earlier, these municipalities never spent more than Rs 5 cr on development, but after they came under GHMC their budgets grew exponentially. We have been spending Rs 70 cr per year towards development. Enforcement and implementation will be the focus in the new areas coming under GHMC limits,” said M T Krishna Babu.

Regarding water and drainage pipelines in the new areas, the Commissioner said, “They are among our major concerns; the pipelines are estimated to cost up to Rs 4,000 crore. We know that such a large sum cannot be invested in a day. We are looking into it.” Summing it up, the Commissioner says that it is better to consider all these areas as ‘developing’ areas and it is best for them and everyone around to have planned growth rather than a haphazard growth chart.