Armed with objections against ward delimitation, legislators make a beeline to GHMC

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Monday witnessed vehement protests against the ward delimitation notification, with legislators across parties presenting their reservations before Commissioner R. V. Karnan.

A team of legislators from Congress party including Khairatabad MLAs Danam Nagender, Serilingampally MLA Arikepudi Gandhi, MLC Balmoor Venkat and corporator Baba Fasiuddin met the GHMC Commissioner, and submitted objections against the delimitation exercise.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Nagender, while expressing support for GHMC expansion, said the delimitation exercise was carried out without consultations with the sitting legislators.

Mr.Gandhi and Mr.Venkat said there was confusion around the criteria followed for the exercise, as there were significant variations in the number of voters among different wards. Officials fixed the boundaries without knowledge at the field level, Mr.Gandhi said and added that the representation submitted by them sought an opportunity for modification of the same. The team also met Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi.

From Bharat Rashtra Samithi, a delegation led by former minister and Sanathnagar legislator Talasani Srinivas Yadav met the commissioner and submitted their memorandum. The team included legislators Ch. Malla Reddy, Kaleru Venkatesh, Mutha Gopal, Marri Rajashekhar Reddy, Dasoju Sravan and several corporators.

Mr. Srinivas questioned the need for such haste in GHMC expansion and alleged that the delimitation exercise was carried out on office laptops without consulting people, political parties or public representatives. Transparency is lacking in fixing the division boundaries, he said and asserted that the party would raise the issue strongly in Tuesday’s council meeting.

Mr. Sravan alleged political motives behind the delimitation exercise which he termed a ploy to weaken BRS in GHMC where the Congress party lacked strength. He said the exercise was not carried out in a scientific manner with the spirit of local self governance, and threatened to seek legal recourse. Mr. Malla Reddy alleged that seven municipalities and three corporations in Medchal constituency have been packed into mere 16 divisions. Medchal is a semi-rural constituency with scope for a lot of development, he said, referring to the possibility of population increase in future.

Independent legislator T. Raja Singh and BJP corporators also visited the GHMC headquarters to file their objections. Corporators alleged population disparities among wards, and objected to the alleged clubbing of the erstwhile Turkayamjal municipality with Charminar zone. Badangpet and Turkayamjal should be clubbed with the L.B. Nagar Zone or formed as a separate zone, they demanded.

So far, over 1,300 suggestions and objections have been received with regard to the preliminary notification of ward delimitation. December 17 is the last date for receiving objections, and a council meeting is being convened on Tuesday to allow the corporators and ex-officio members to express their opinions about the delimitation.