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.
