Hyderabad, Feb 11 (TNT): Criticising the state government for transferring IAS and other senior officials during the election period in violation of Election Commission guidelines, Union Minister G.KishanReddy on Wednesday said the decision to divide the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation into three corporations was also illegal and unconstitutional.
In a series of three government orders, the Telangana Government on Wednesday announced a major administrative restructuring by dividing the newly reorganised Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) into three separate municipal corporations.
Addressing a media conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party state office, Kishan Reddy alleged that villages located far from municipal headquarters were merged into new corporations without proper planning or financial preparedness, depriving the rural poor of benefits such as the employment guarantee scheme.
While the GHMC area was originally spread over 650 sq km in 2007, the combined area of the three new corporations has been expanded to over 2,000 sq km without any corresponding infrastructure plan, he said.
Kishan Reddy further claimed that the state government ignored census-related guidelines prohibiting changes to revenue villages and wards after the census notification, yet went ahead with the division of corporations in Hyderabad, Nalgonda and Gajwel, terming the move completely unlawful.
He also alleged financial mismanagement, stating that nearly 70 per cent of Telangana’s revenue comes from the GHMC area, yet civic bodies and the Water Works department are facing a severe financial crisis.
Accusing the Congress government of imposing excessive “RR tax”, he claimed that Telangana levies up to 30 per cent, compared to 12 per cent in Bengaluru, and alleged that a portion of these collections was diverted for elections outside the state.
The BJP leader said the Congress government’s actions have weakened urban governance and undermined democratic institutions, and reiterated that the trifurcation of GHMC violated constitutional provisions and Election Commission norms.
Several BJP leaders, including state general secretary Thula Veerender Goud, chief spokesperson N. V. Subhash, ST Morcha president Ravi Nayak and senior party leaders, were present at the press conference.
TNT TS
Leave a Reply