The Hindu 20.04.2013
Uncertainty continues over new GMC Commissioner
A senior Minister not happy over the appointment of Venkateswarlu
An intense game of one-up-manship between a senior Minister and a first time MLA has put the appointment of Zonal Officer, HMDA, K. Venkateswarlu, as the Municipal Commissioner of Guntur in a quandary.
With the Guntur Municipal Corporation on the verge of being included in the second phase of JNNURM works and the possibility of taking up World Bank-funded Comprehensive Drinking Water Project, local Congress leaders are vying with one another to get their man posted.
The GMC has recently agreed to host the Clean City Championship to get rid of sanitation problems and the programme might go in drain, if the new commissioner does not show interest.
Orders posting Mr. Venkateswarlu as the Commissioner were received on Wednesday, but uncertainty could persist till the time he takes charge.
Mr. Venkateswarlu, who was from Group-2 services, has been promoted to the post of special grade municipal commissioner prior to this appointment. Sources said that the officer had the blessings of Guntur East MLA Sk. Mastan Vali, who used his good relations with the Minister for Municipal Administration Mahidhar Reddy to get his man appointed.
But there was a twist in the tale as the senior Minister who represents Guntur-West was not too happy with the appointment. The Minister had earlier pitched for M. Venkateswara Rao, who comes from Urban Land Ceiling Department.
The contrasting stances taken by the senior Minister and the MLA have put the Municipal Administration Minister in a spot and finally he ended the stalemate by preferring the candidate recommended by the MLA.
It was at that moment that the senior Minister moved and got the transfer to be put on hold, sources said.
Some of the senior officers too expressed the opinion that at a time when the GMC was in the cusp of getting a huge chunk of grants from the Central and State government, it would be advisable to have Commissioner with a clean record.
