During the past two months, the State government, with much fanfare, has carried out merger and de-merger process for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)– first by integrating the peripheral municipalities/corporations into the unified corporation and then dividing the expanded area into three corporations, duly assigning responsibilities and appointing a special officer to oversee the affairs of all the three corporations.
A total of 27 municipalities/corporations have been merged into GHMC. Later, Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation have been carved out of it with three zones each. Staff, right from computer operators, have been transferred and adjusted among the three corporations.
The tri-corporation area, however, is set to suffer from severe staff shortage in all the wings, especially in the Town Planning Department which is entrusted the difficult job of controlling the unauthorised structures in the city.
As per the recommendations of an expert committee constituted in 2013 under the chairmanship of retired bureaucrat M. Prasada Rao for studying the staffing patterns after the merger of municipalities in 2007, the Town Planning Departments for all the three municipalities together should have had more than 1,000 staff members. However, the current strength is less than 100, officials said requesting anonymity.
The expert committee suggested a staff strength of 14 for the Town Planning Department in each circle, inclusive of a deputy city planner, an assistant city planner, eight town planning section officers,/supervisors, a town surveyor, a superintendent, a senior assistant and a junior assistant.
For each zonal office, the recommended strength was nine comprising a city planner, two assistant city planners, four section officers/supervisors, one senior assistant and one junior assistant, while a total 63 employees is the strength recommended for Town Planning central office.
With fresh recruitment scarce, the functioning of the department has taken a severe beating, with plethora of illegal structures coming up everywhere with no action at all. The Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) had recruited 175 candidates for the Directorate of Town and Country Planning one year ago, of which only 140 stayed. Of these, GHMC got only 10.
“The minimum strength required for each circle is one deputy director, one ACP and eight section officers. Here, we are left with one section officer and one ACP managing two circles,” shared an official under the condition of anonymity.
The civic bodies within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits, which had been merged with GHMC had no sanctioned posts, but only officials functioning on deputation. Hence they contributed little in terms of cadre strength.
“Only the posts of commissioner and manager existed in these corporations,” the official mentioned.
Published – February 16, 2026 08:31 pm IST
