Objections aplenty over GHMC ward de-limitation

Objections of all hues about various aspects of ward de-limitation, varying from the process to the purpose, from the manner of the exercise to the result, were raised in the Tuesday’s council meeting at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

A total 152 corporators and ex-officio members attended the meeting presided by Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi.

The freshly released map of 300 proposed wards in the now expanded corporation resembled a hibiscus flower, clustered at the centre and expanding towards the edges. The rationale given by the officials, that population was dense at the core, and sparse towards the newly merged urban local bodies, did not seem to have many takers.

Objections were raised about how Turkayamjal with 70,000 population could be made into a single ward, while Jalpally is divided into three, about Exhibition Grounds with 12,000 population as a ward carved out from Goshamahal, and Narsingi holding more divisions than Manikonda despite having fewer voters, Shamshabad holding two wards while Jalpally has three, Ameenpur with 1.2 lakh population having only two wards and Borabanda being kept as a single ward. Allegations flew about insinuating a tacit understanding between ruling party and the MIM, while the members from the latter said the purpose of the exercise was to damage MIM.

Several anomalies raised by the members pertained to name changes. Kallem Navajeevan Reddy representing Hayatnagar pointed out that Hayat Bakshi Begum mosque after which the area was named, went to the High Court Colony division, as also the Hayatnagar depot. Several corporators questioned Baghlingampally ward being renamed after DD Colony. Corporator Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin raised an issue with Shaikpet village being converted into OU Colony ward.

Corporator Vanga Madhusudan Reddy pointed out that in 2009, de-limitation was done after infusion of each of the merged ULBs with funds to the tune of ₹400 to ₹500 crore, and urged the government to follow the example. V.Sravan Kumar representing Malkajgiri division said the boundaries mentioned in the gazette notification were unfamiliar to majority.

MLC Dasoju Sravan Kumar called the de-limitation exercise “undemocratic and unconstitutional”. He questioned the constitutional sanctity of the Centre for Good Governance which carried out the exercise and asked why the CGG report had not been tabled.

MLA Ahmed bin Abdullah Balala appreciated the fact that members’ opinions were being sought for the first time about de-limitation, and flagged the absence of data as the basis for the exercise.

Former minister and current MLA Talasani Srinivas Yadav alleged huge variation in ward-wise voter numbers, ranging between 18,000 and 70,000. The government has done the exercise in an opaque manner with no consultations with the stakeholders, he said.

Another MLA Ch. Malla Reddy cried foul about 220 wards in erstwhile Medchal constituency being reduced to 16 after merger. Comparing GHMC’s extent with metro cities such as Mumbai and global cities such as Tokyo, MLA K.P. Vivekanand reminded that Mumbai has a total of nine municipal corporations and nagar panchayats, while Tokyo has 23 corporations.

MLA Kaleru Venkatesh pointed out that already several authorities such as District Collector, Irrigation department, and HYDRAA did not come under the GHMC Commissioner’s purview, and the citizens are forced to run from pillar to post for permissions. He sought to know how infrastructure, planning and manpower would be handled in expanded GHMC.

Legislator Sabitha Indra Reddy said the peripheral ULBs which had a collective 858 wards have now been reduced to mere 58, saying this would cause problems for citizens.