Jan. 9: City corporators, led by the Mayor, have proposed that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) be merged with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

Their contention is that the lack of coordination bet-ween the two public utilities is causing inconvenience to citizens. They say that because the services provided by HMWS&SB and GHMC are closely related, bringing water supply and sewerage services under the control of the GHMC will considerably improve service delivery to citizens.

Besides, water supply is not an alien subject to GHMC, because the municipal corporation that was supplying water to surrounding municipalities for years together until the responsibility was shifted to the Water Board a year ago. However, urban development experts, elected representatives including MPs and MLAs from the city, and environmentalists, want a thorough discussion and debate on the proposal. They also want the opinion of experts, policy makers and stakeholders to be taken into consideration before a final decision is made.

Besides, the merger proposal would throw up possible demands for bringing under a single umbrella other crucial departments like fire services, traffic, public transport, power supply, law and order, schools and colleges, and medical services and the question is whether an agency like the GHMC, which is struggling to fulfil its present duties, will be able to take the additional load of providing more services.

Urban development expert Mr D.V. Rao of the Centre for Good Governance said water supply services are with municipalities elsewhere in the state, but there are drawbacks to doing the same for Hyderabad. “In Hyderabad, the Water Board was created as a separate entity through an Act of Legislature. The advantage of being an independent identity is getting huge funding from international agencies to execute projects. If the Water Board is merged with the GHMC, international loans and other funding will not be that easy to get as GHMC would already be taking loans for execution of other civic infrastructure projects.”

He said the government is not in a position to fund either the Water Board or the GHMC with the kind of huge finances the two public utilities require to provide basic civic infrastructure to citizens in new colonies that have mushroomed in surrounding municipalities, leave alone improving the existing but deteriorating facilities in the core city. Mr Rao said though the 74th Constitutional Amendment stipulates that even water supply is part of the duties to be executed by an urban local body, the conditions in Greater Hyderabad are different.

“May be the state government amends the Water Board Act and makes some of the GHMC corporators and officials members on the Water Board to improve coordination, and policy decisions are taken in consultation with each other,” he added. National Disaster Management Authority vice-chairperson, Mr M. Shashidhar Reddy, said that while lack of coordination is seen among various departments, the most notable mismatch is between the GHMC and the Water Board. “It is a good idea to merge at a time when both agencies blame each other for sewer connections being tapped to storm water network resulting in flooding of roads and streets during the rainy season, and polluting the water bodies too. However, we have to see how feasible the merger is. We should learn from the experiences of other cities like the Mumbai municipal corporation, which also maintains water supply and transport (buses). The fire service is another important subject that should be under the control of the urban local body,” he said.

BJP state president and Amberpet MLA, Mr Kishen Reddy, says the proposal should be discussed by urban development experts and citizens. “There is no doubt that there is no coordination between the GHMC and Water Board. I am witness to the lack of coordination, a glaring one being Water Board officials coming and cutting open the roads less than a week after the GHMC had re-carpeted it with bitumen. It is the failure of the GHMC that it does not inform the Water Board about its road works, and likewise the Water Board never bothers to inform the GHMC that it will be digging up so and so roads,” Mr Reddy said.

Eminent environmentalist Mr K. Purushotham Reddy said it is high time that Hyderabad is made into a state on the lines of Delhi. “The population of Greater Hyderabad is nearing the one crore mark and its geographical area is spread over 625 sq. km. If needed, the boundaries can be extended further and the city made into a state. This would allow the state administration to focus better on improvement and development of amenities,” he said.

Hyderabad MP, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi of MIM said the problem with agencies like the Water Board, GHMC, Central Discom, APTransco, traffic police, APSRTC city unit, and railways is that the duties of each have been earmarked clearly but they are not able to discharge those duties.