GHMC Council no to panchayats merger

Ruling and opposition parties not keen on bringing 15 gram panchayats under GHMC fold A peek into meeting

• GHMC General Body adopts resolutions for maintenance works inside religious places of worship in GHMC limits for construction of new flyovers at Begum Bazaar and Bahadurpura.
• Borabanda Corporator V Bhanumathi takes oath three months after winning the by-poll.
• TRS makes its presence felt in the corporation for the first time. Newly elected MLC Mahmood Ali attends the Council meet.
• Rs 20 crore fund to be spent for arrangements of Bonalu and Ramzan festivals, says GHMC chief.
• Ten-day drive for debris removal from July 6 onwards in all circles in view of festivals.
• In addition to 15-day training oxygen cylinder and safety gear to be provided for workers cleaning manholes.
• Only two questions came up for discussion at General Body meeting held on Wednesday.
• Council to meet again on Thursday to transact the remaining unfinished business.
• Expressing dissatisfaction for not attending to problems at their level, Mayor tells Zonal and Additional Commissioners to pull up their socks and get responsible.

Hyderabad: The General Body of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the merger of 15 gram panchayats with the civic body. Besides corporators from the ruling MIM-Congress alliance, elected representatives of the opposition Telugu Desam and Bharatiya Janata Party too opposed the proposal citing various reasons. As soon as the Council met here at 10 am on Wednesday, Mayor Majid Hussain moved a condolence motion expressing grief at the heavy loss of human lives and property in Uttarakhand floods. Leaders from all parties and civic officials observed two minutes silence on this occasion. Later, Mayor allowed a debate on the merger of 15 Gram Panchayats namely Kothwalguda (Shamshabad Mandal); Gandipet, Vattinagulapalli, Neknampur, Khanapur, Manchirevula, Kismatpur, Himayathsagar (Rajendranagar Mandal); Kalwancha or Kuntlur (from Hayathnagar Mandal); Jillelguda, Kothapeta, Meerpet, Pahadi Shareef (from Saroornagar); Jawaharnagar (Shamirpet Mandal) and Dammaiguda (Keesara Mandal) with the corporation. Initiating the discussion, TDP Corporator M Bhanuprasad (Hydernagar) observed that the merger would pose administrative problems for the civic body. Commissioner should hire a helicopter in case he decided to inspect vast area under GHMC limits, he said in a lighter vein. Meanwhile, MIM floor leader Mohammed Nazeeruddin expressed doubts that the merger was aimed at benefitting the real estate sector by transforming the agricultural lands in villages into non-agricultural lands. "Former Chief Minister promised Rs. 5000 crore grant for development of 12 municipalities that were merged to form GHMC in 2007. Neither the grant was given to those municipalities, nor was the staff increased. In this backdrop, accommodating new places would not serve any purpose," the MIM leader felt. TDP Corporator R Sumalatha (Gauthamnagar) observed that corporators from peripheral municipalities that were merged with GHMC earlier were very unhappy because of lack of basic facilities besides drinking water and sewerage problems for the last few years. She alleged that metropolitan water board was charging 35 per cent on monthly water bill for sewerage purposes while the civic body was actually monitoring the sewer lines in peripheral municipalities. BJP floor leader Bangari Prakash demanded the government to develop peripheral municipalities that were merged in 2007 first before taking any decision to bring more villages under its ambit. Congress floor leader Diddi Rambabu pointed out that it had become increasingly difficult for people from peripheral municipalities to visit the head office for any work. Adding more villages into the corporation would compound the woes of the public residing in those areas, he said. "Although Congress is not in favour, our party demands setting up of a GHMC committee to go into the issue thoroughly and take a suitable decision later," Rambabu added. YSR Congress Party leader Kaleru Venkatesh demanded the government to address the staffing pattern problem before taking any decision to merge new areas. TDP floor leader Singireddy Srinivas Reddy said in a lighter vein that the civic body should hire 10 helicopters and 10 big buses to monitor civic and development works in the entire GHMC area if more panchayats were added in the future. He urged the Council to adopt a resolution to reject the proposal made by the government. On the other hand, former mayor Banda Karthika Reddy differed with the views expressed by majority of members. Pointing out JNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana schemes and Hyderabad Metro Rail project, she stated that peripheral municipalities benefitted a lot after merger. She however stressed for a public opinion before taking a final decision. MLCs Syed Jaffri (MIM), P J Chandrasekhar Rao (CPI), Mahmood Ali (TRS) and MLA Ahmed Balala also opposed the merger move. Commissioner MT Krishna Babu brought to the notice of house few problems if Jawaharnagar was not merged, but the members were in no mood to listen. Soon afterwards, the Mayor stated that based on unanimous approval of the members the resolution for merging 15 Gram Panchayats was rejected, and the same would be sent to the government.