Hyderabad: After a gap of five years, the civic administration in Greater Hyderabad will once again be run by bureaucrats, as the term of the first elected body of the GHMC concludes on Wednesday, December 3.
The government is likely appoint a special officer on Wednesday through a government order. The TS government will issue an order appointing a special officer. In the past too, governments have appointed senior municipal commissioners as special officers to handle the Mayor’s office.
The decision is completely the government’s prerogative and the present commissioner can also take charge as special officer if the government permits.
The terms of the Hyderabad Mayor, Deputy Mayor, party floor members and 150 corporators will end on Wednesday.
The powers of elected a standing committee and general body for all applied projects of the GHMC will be exercised by a special officer appointed by the TS government.
There won’t be any debates, discussions and also no opposition to the powers exercised by the special officer who will be in office until the TS government decides to hold ward elections to the biggest local body in the state.
Meanwhile, O.M. Debara, a retired government engineer and an activist, said that the city required a representative of the citizens.
He said that the Mayor’s post should not be lying vacant as the public would lose contact with the representatives and the corporators.
“The term of service is not important. We will continue to do our work as usual even after the term expires,” added Ale Jitender, Gowlipura BJP corporator.
Ward Elections
GHMC polls are unlikely to be held in the near future as the Telanagana government wants to first complete the exercise of delimitation of wards and categorisation of BC voters and study the pros and cons of bifurcating or trifurcating the city to improve efficiency levels in the municipal services delivery mechanism.
The state government wants to study the functioning and efficiency of the municipal service delivery mechanism in cities like Delhi and Mumbai wherein more than one municipal corporation is in place.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will ultimately decide whether to divide the city into two or more corporations or continue with the present system, hinted Telangana State Legislative Affairs Minister T. Harish Rao.
