Greater Hyderabad is Going to Expand Further

Even though its becoming difficult for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to provide infrastructure and other amenities in several municipal circles, 20 more gram panchayats are to be merged in to it. While the Ranga Reddy district has proposed merger of over 50 gram panchayats in the Corporation, the GHMC is hesitant to take so many. It wants inclusion of only 20 gram panchayats in Greater Hyderabad as the new villages might become a burden on the civic body financially and revenue from these villages might be meagre at least for the next five years.

When the Greater Hyderabad was formed in April 2007, a notification was issued to merge Shamshabad, Mamidipally, Satamrai, Jalpally, Mankhal, Almasguda, Sardarnagar and Raviryal and objections and suggestions were invited from citizens. Sensing legal hurdles as the gram panchayats had more than four years term, the state government withdrew its notification and merged only 10 surrounding municipalities. As the term of elected bodies in most surrounding villages like Shamshabad, Almasguda and Nizampet would come to an end in August, the Ranga Reddy district administration has begun the exercise to merge peripheral villages in Greater Hyderabad.

From GHMC side, the authorities are planning to send a resolution to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department on inclusion of nearly 20 urbanised villages, which are close to the city and have witnessed growth in the last few years. Officials sources said, the 20 gram panchayats that have been proposed to be merged are Shamshabad, Mamidipally, Satamrai, Jalpally, Mankhal, Almasguda/Tukkuguda, Sardarnagar, Raviryal, Peeranchervu, Hydershakotla, Bandlaguda Jagir, Manikonda, Poppalguda, Narsingi, Kokapet, Nizampet, Bachupally, Kompally, Boduppal and Balapur.

GHMC had passed a resolution for merger of new villages and sent it to the MA&UD department. "Since there was no elected body and the standing committee in the corporation when the first resolution was taken up, now the proposal to merge 20 gram panchayats will be placed before the standing committee on the advice of the state government," a senior GHMC official said. The MA&UD department is likely to issue a notification on merger of new areas in the GHMC next month by inviting objections and suggestions from the respective gram panchayats. However, the state government has the authority to take a final decision on the proposals.