Hyderabad :

After having come to power in Telangana, the TRS is now aiming to take control of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Towards that end, the TRS government is mulling trifurcation of the civic body into Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Cyberabad municipal corporations.

Such a trifurcation will ensure better administration and development in three core regions of Hyderabad, sources said. The proposal takes the cue from Delhi, where the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated into North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi Municipal Corporations in 2012. Similarly, Mumbai city has two corporations, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

Sources said initially, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was in favour of bifurcating GHMC into two entities, Hyderabad and Secunderabad municipal corporations.

However, some leaders reportedly suggested that Cyberabad should also be made a municipal corporation by merging it with some more surrounding villages. Following that, the TRS government is warming up to the idea of splitting GHMC into three entities.

TRS sources said the trifurcation of GHMC will not only pave the way for better administration and focused development, but will also help the party to capture power in the civic bodies. As of now, the TRS does not have representation in the 150-ward corporation and it is likely to contest the next election by allying with the Majlis-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which, incidentally, has been sharing power with the Congress for the past five years. The TRS may consult its new ally MIM before taking a decision on splitting GHMC into two or three corporations, the sources said.

“GHMC elections are due in December this year. If the bifurcation or trifurcation happens, the state government may have to postpone the elections for about six months for delimitation of wards and to complete other procedures,” a city TRS leader said.

Both Hyderabad and Secunderabad were separate municipal corporations till 1960 and merged later. The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1950, created two separate corporations for Hyderabad and Secunderabad and then merged the two bodies in 1960 and converted into Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) in order to ensure effective administration and financial strength. At that time, the MCH’s population was just 16 lakh spread over 73 sq kms and the corporation’s annual budget was just 1.5 crore per year.

In April 2007, the erstwhile MCH and surrounding 12 municipalities were merged and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was created covering an area of 625 sq kms.

Attempts were made by the previous Congress state governments to add another 36 villages into GHMC but they did not succeed due to resentment from the people’s representatives and court cases.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Konde Mahesh, TNN / July 13th, 2014