The Times of India            30.10.2013

GHMC stopped sanctioning of new works

HYDERABAD: If your colony association is pinning hopes on GHMC to lay new internal roads or develop a park, then you will have to wait till 2015 to see the dream come true. Reason: The corporation has stopped sanctioning new schemes as most circles have exhausted their budget.

Zonal commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners have already exhausted funds allocated to them for the present financial year. Many works sanctioned during the 2012-13 fiscal are yet to be completed by the engineering wing.

Under pressure from corporators, several projects were okayed while some works were sanctioned by deputy commissioners and zonal commissioners without taking execution and budget aspects into consideration.

The corporation allocates budget to each of the five zones, which is divided among municipal circles depending upon the jurisdiction and importance of the area. The zonal and deputy municipal commissioners have given sanctions generously for various works in just six months of the current financial year.

For instance, the South Zone, covering Saidabad, Malakpet, Rajendranagar, etc., has been allocated Rs 200 crore. However, the officials have already given sanction for 909 works worth Rs 199.73 crore. Similarly, officials of the Central Zone, which covers Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Ameerpet, Somajiguda and others, have awarded 984 works worth about Rs 260.76 crore against its allocation of Rs 280 crore.

Many circles like Kapra, LB Nagar, Serilingampally (Circle 12), Alwal, Circle 9 & 8 (Abids) and Qutubullapur have exhausted their budget in the first six months itself, while some have just a few lakhs to spend in their allocated budget. The highest number of works were sanctioned in circle 4 (Old City) where 520 works were awarded followed by 372 works in Circle 7 covering Mehdipatnam, Masab Tank and Asifnagar.

Worried over the corporation's decision to freeze new works, the corporators had raised the issue during the recent standing committee meeting and asked for more budget allocation to circles.

"Now, the situation is that only emergency and maintenance works will be sanctioned in the next few months. The commissioner and the corporation have powers to sanction more works, but if the sanctions are more apart from pending works, the GHMC may plunge into a financial crisis again. The GHMC had faced financial crisis and cleared overdraft last year," a senior GHMC official said.

Official sources said capital expenditure of the corporation (for construction of flyovers, bridges and other major works) has gone up this year. Last year, the capital expenditure was just Rs 124 crore by September 15, this year it's Rs 311 crore. The only positive sign is that revenue of the GHMC has increased to Rs 894 crore against Rs 764 crore during the corresponding period last year.

When contacted, GHMC additional commissioner (Finance) K Ashok Reddy has admitted that some circles had exhausted their budget limits under different heads, but said new sanctions would be given as per the requirement.