The general body of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
took a strong objection to officials initiating works without the
approval of the standing committee or the general body.

Taking the
views of corporators seriously, mayor M Majid Hussain said the GHMC
decided to examine the need for having consultancy services for its
projects and spending huge amounts on them though the GHMC had qualified
engineers among its staff.

He asked the zonal commissioners,
additional commissioners and engineer-in-chief to submit a detailed
report on utilisation of consultancy agencies, the expenditure incurred
on projects at the next meeting of the standing committee. 

When
MIM corporator Zulfiqar wanted to know under what rules was the GHMC
awarding  consultancy service contracts to private agencies though GHMC
engineers can do such jobs, engineer-in-chief R Dhan Singh failed to
give a convincing reply.

Commissioner Somesh Kumar intervened to 
say that the GHMC would frame a policy in this regard and submit a
detailed a report to the standing committee. Agreeing with  the concerns
of the members, he said GHMC engineers were not experts in taking up
specialised works like construction of flyovers, road over-bridges and
under-bridges.

“Our engineers are busy with routine works and we
don’t have much time to deal with specialised works which are technical.
All these issues will be studied in detail and a reported submitted to
the Committee,” he said.

Syed Amin Jaffri, MLC, alleged a big scam
in the award of consultancy services to  private agencies. He wanted
the GHMC to utilise the services of retired engineers who were experts
in the project works as being done by AP Transco and other departments.

The
council asked the commissioner to review the bad condition of roads and
allot work to contractors in consultation with the corporators and
public representatives concerned. It also resolved to allot `50 lakh for
each ward for road repairs.

The council also asked commissioner
to  conduct a detailed area-wise survey of the requirement of sanitation
units and refurbish the mas per the requirements.

The general
body asked the commissioner to take action against illegal manufacturers
of oil and illegal plastic manufacturers, and to strictly enforce the
ban on plastic of below 40 microns thickness.