Greater Guntur by next polls to GMC

GUNTUR, Dec. 25: The government is planning to form Greater Guntur Municipal Corporation (GGMC) by merging 15 surrounding villages before the municipal elections to be held in September next.

The present term of the panchayat sarpanches would end by August, 2011, but the government is in favour of Greater Guntur and is planning to issue a notification before the corporation elections.

The district collector, Mr B. Ramanjaneyulu, sent a proposal to the government recommending to form Greater Guntur by merging 15 surrounding villages. The municipal administration principal secretary, Ms Pushpa Subrahmanyam, positively responded and recommended to the government to form Greater Guntur.

The builders are mounting pressure on the government to form Greater Guntur. If the GGMC is formed, they can build apartments on the city outskirts to meet the housing needs of the middle class. The GGMC would provide drinking water and infrastructure to the apartment complexes.

Some real estate companies and politicians have already purchased hundreds of acres of land on the city outskirts. If the GGMC is formed the land will cost more. If the 15 villages are merged into the corporation, the population in the city will increase to 10 lakh and divisions in the municipal corporation will increase If the GGMC is formed. The corporation is expecting that it would get more funds from the Central government to take up development works.

The municipal corporation has already taken steps to enhance the drinking water supply capacity from 80 MLD to 240 MLD within the next two years to meet the increasing needs of the people.

The Guntur Municipal Corporation decided to build four flyovers in the city and the VGTM UDA is laying the ring road at a cost of Rs 12 crore to solve the traffic problem in the city.

The Guntur district collector said whether the panchayat sarpanches will agree to merge their panchayats into the Greater Guntur or not, the government will issue a notification.