GHMC Council Approves Interest Waiver on Property Tax

Hyderabad: The GHMC standing committee on Thursday approved 24 proposals, including two for road development involving building a flyover, a road overbridge and an alternative route around the AOC Centre in the Cantonment area in Secunderabad. This is expected to meet the demands of a large number of residents in the northeastern regions of the city who often face road closures in the military area.

The committee also approved with widening the master plan road from 45 metres to 68.9 metres over a 700-metre stretch requiring 106 property acquisitions. Revised administrative sanction was issued for a parallel RoB at Falaknuma and repair works on Fatehnagar flyover.

With the current council’s term ending on February 10, 2026, the GHMC will subsequently be led by a special commissioner, replacing the elected body. The council presently comprises 150 corporators and ex-officio members including MLAs, MPs and MLCs, who take policy decisions and approve major projects. After dissolution, standing committee meetings will cease and administrative decisions will be taken by the Special Commissioner and zonal officials.

As already reported in these columns, the committee approved one-time settlement (OTS) scheme offering a 90 per cent waiver on accumulated interest on property tax arrears. Of the 9,39,317 pending assessments, arrears totalling `3,930.42 crore are due from 5,46,304 assessments.

To ease congestion near Charminar, a proposal was approved for a multi-level parking complex at Khilwat under the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model with an initial 15-year concession period, extendable by five years based on performance.

The council has approved a road development plan for a down-ramp from Owaisi Junction flyover towards Santoshnagar by acquiring seven properties, and a revised unidirectional road plan at Rasoolpura Junction under the H-CITI programme at the cost of acquiring 26 properties.

Major proposals approved include selecting a service provider to install and maintain a GPS-based tracking system for GHMC vehicles used for waste collection and fogging activities, and establishing a 50-seater EMRI call centre along with upgraded server infrastructure.

Administrative sanction was granted to a Rs.2.99 crore project management unit (PMU), with the GHMC entering into an agreement with Osmania University’s department of electrical engineering for technical support over four years for an adaptive traffic signal control (ATSC) system.

Tenders will also be called for operation and maintenance of 10 sports complexes in Khairatabad zone, while the Khajaguda Sports Complex will be leased to a private operator for repairs and maintenance. A basic food testing laboratory will additionally be set up at a multipurpose hall in KPHB Colony.