Hyderabad: A novel idea of bringing governance to citizens’ doorstep has been troubling Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The civic body officials claimed that there is no point in re-organisation of circles and zones without recruiting staff and building infrastructure such as an office building in the areas concerned.
Apart from this, the civic body is also clueless about work division among existing staff which has resulted in confrontation between workers at ground-level. Officials claimed that without recruiting additional staff, citizens will not witness any change in administration and it would rather enhance the confusion and inconvenience.
Highly placed sources said that the administration wing is confused about boundaries of circles and zones in the draft proposals. Field-level staff, specifically sanitation workers and bill collectors have been not allowing others to work in their jurisdiction, citing new staff might dent their illegal income.
For instance, the Corporation has set a target of Rs 426.92 crores’ property tax collection in two months. To reach the goal, it had deployed additional staff. Surprisingly, Bill collectors got in to confrontation with new staff and were asked to leave the circle, threatening them of severe consequences.
Even though the Standing Committee passed a resolution two months ago to recruit 1,200 members immediately, the state government is yet to initiate the process.
A senior GHMC official said that work division and reshuffling of existing staff, working in town planning, revenue and sanitation wings have been a herculean task. He said that the Corporation re-organised circles and zones thrice in two years.
“Within three years, the number of circles have increased from 18 to 48 and zones from 4 to 12, without constructing a single office or recruiting required staff for administration. Field- level outsourcing staff have been reluctant to do works when they were asked to work in a newly formed circle, claiming that their residence is far away from work place. The workers claimed that they cannot afford travel expenses with Rs 15,000 as monthly wages. Taking advantage of the situation, a proposal has come up to regularise their jobs,” an official said.
A Corporation official also said that it has come to their notice that existing staff in Revenue wing has been not allowing staff from other circles to collect property tax and trade licences, even though they were deputed officially.
“As of now, the Corporation has set a target to collect Rs 426.92 crores in two months amid confusion on boundary. The re-organisation announcement has already opened doors for bill collectors to loot property owners and the Corporation is yet to find a mechanism to solve it,” the official said.
The reorganisation exercise is expected to throw up a need for 1,610 additional posts and financial implications to the tune of Rs 146.86 crores per annum on the Municipal Corporation.
“Until and unless the recruitment happens, there would not be any change in the administration,” the official concluded.
Meanwhile, the state government has in principle approved re-organisation of GHMC Municipal circles from the existing 30 to 48 and to revise zonal offices from six to 12 for effective administration and to extend quality service to citizens. GHMC is spread over 24 Assembly constituencies and it has now decided to create 12 zones, enabling one zone with coterminous jurisdiction for every two Assembly constituencies. Each zone will have four Municipal circles, totalling to 48 circles within GHMC limits.
