The Times of India 27.08.2012
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation awaits govt nod for pending shake-up
When Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was formed in April 2007 by merging 12 surrounding municipalities with the then Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH), the rulers had grandiose visions of creating an international standard city and offering civic services on par with world-class cities like Singapore, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. The expansive civic body was also tasked to provide "better civic amenities with planned development" compared to the four metros-Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
True, Hyderabad
emerged as the second largest metro in terms of area and fifth biggest
in terms of population, with 72 lakh people living in an urban sprawl of
625 sq kms. But the dream of making it akin to Kuala Lumpur
or developing its civic infrastructure to rival that of any of the four
metros has turned sour. Lack of adequate financial resources
notwithstanding, the GHMC hardly has the wherewithal-in terms of
manpower and administrative capabilities-to execute the plans that it
has taken up over the last five years. GHMC has 24,240 workers,
including contract staff, on its rolls but their work is hardly
noticeable.
When the GHMC was constituted, a three-tier
structure was put in place with head office at the apex level, five
zonal offices at the intermediate level and 18 circle offices at the
lower rung. The 150 electoral wards-100 in the erstwhile MCH and 50 in
the former municipalities-are coalesced into five zones and 18 circles.
The 2001 census population in these zones ranged between 5.30 lakh to
18.10 lakh and in the circles, from 76,538 to 9,01,226. The number of
election wards included in these circles ranged between two to 25 but
2011 census noted an enormous growth in the population in each of the
existing circles and zones, particularly in the areas in the erstwhile
adjoining municipalities falling under the jurisdiction of Ranga Reddy
district. The population rose from 36.86 lakh in 2001 to 40.10 lakh in
2011 in erstwhile MCH area and soared from 17.18 lakh in 2001 to 33.69
lakh in former municipalities, indicating a decadal growth of 11.95% and
95.30% respectively.
The expert committee, constituted by the state government under the chairmanship of retired IAS officer
M Prasada Rao, submitted its report on rationalization of staffing
pattern and reorganisation of circles and zones in GHMC in November
2011. The Prasada Rao Committee has recommended retaining the three-tier
administrative structure with reorganisation of the zones and circles.
The panel has suggested that the number of zones can remain at five but
the number of circles has to be increased from the existing 18 to 30,
based on population to provide a decentralized set-up in the functioning
of GHMC to improve urban governance and service delivery.
Circle offices are proposed to be reorganized at the rate of one circle
office for a population of 2.65 lakh in erstwhile MCH and 2.25 lakh in
former municipalities. The panel has suggested increasing the number of
circles in the core area from 7 to 15 and in the peripheral areas from
11 to 15 as higher growth of population is anticipated in the non-core
sprawl. It has recommended constituting one zonal office for every six
circle offices to maintain uniformity in population to be served by each
zonal office and to ensure effective supervision over the functioning
of circle offices.
Reorganisation of circles and zones would be
done on the basis of 2011 census population, geographical contiguity
and delimitation of electoral wards.
The reorganised circles in
two distinct areas - core city (old MCH) and peripheral areas
(erstwhile municipalities)-would not overlap into each other. The zones
would comprise a central zone (central business district areas) and
north, south, west and east zones. Except central zone, the other zones
would include circles from the core and peripheral areas with
geographical contiguity.
The work of reorganisation of circles
and zones could not be taken up by the GHMC so far, since this premier
civic body is awaiting the state government's approval for the
rationalisation of staffing pattern, namely, for recruitment of
additional staff to supplement the existing staff strength. Earlier this
year, the standing committee approved the recommendations of the
Prasada Rao committee with some modifications and sent the same for the
government's concurrence. Now, the ball is in the state government's
court.
(The writer is a member of the AP Legislative Council and journalist)
