Hyderabad: Ending weeks of speculation, the Telangana government finally passed orders to trifurcate the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Instead of one large boy, the city now has the GHMC, Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) and the Cyberabad Municipal Corporations (CMC).
he development comes just a day after the Greater Hyderabad Council’s term ended a day earlier.
In two separate orders dated February 11, the Telangana government reorganised the GHMC into the 3 bodies – GHMC, CMC, MMC – and also passed orders appointing new commissioners to the two newly created corporations. While RV Karnan will continue in his current post as GHMC commissioner, GHMC Additional Commissioners G Srijana and T Vinay Krishna Reddy have been posted as the new Cyberabad and Malkajgiri municipal commissioners.
In the same order transferring Srijana and Vinay Krishna Reddy, the Telangana government also reshuffled a handful of other officers including senior IAS officer Sandeep Kumar Sultania, who has been posted as Principal Secretary to Government (Planning Department) and Director General, Telangana Remote Sensing Applications Centre.
The fate of the civic boy was hanging in the balance ever since the Telangana government decided last year to increase the corporation’s jurisdiction from 650 sq kilometers to over 2000 sq kms now, increasing its wards from 150 to 300. The decision faced a lot of flak especially from opposition parties like the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
The AIMIM in particular was afraid that it would lose its dominance in the Hyderabad area if the GHMC wards were expanded. With the GHMC still intact and with a smaller jurisdiction now, the AIMIM may in fact even get stronger.
New Corporation zones
According to Govt Order No 55 dated February 11, the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation will comprise former Greater Hyderabad zones Serilingampally, Kukatpally and Qutubullapur. Similarly, former zones of Malkajgiri, Uppal, LB NAgar of the GHMC will now make up the Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation. The remaining zones of Shamshabad, Rajendranagar, Golconda, Charminar and Khairatabad now fall under the GHMC’s ambit.
