Hyderabad: The bone of contention Hyderabad City and Ranga Reddy district have now become the bone of contention. The Seemandhra real estate lobby, which drives the Congress Party, has reconciled itself to Telangana statehood. But their investment in and around Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district is what is worrying them. So what is the position with regard to Hyderabad and what did the Sri Krishna Committee (SKC) say about it? While this royal capital was in its heyday, it began swallowing outlying municipalities. In 1921, the area of Hyderabad Municipality increased from 55 square km to 84 square km. Apart from that there was the Chadarghat, Jubilee Hills and the Secunderabad Municipality. These municipalities were merged into a single corporation, the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad in 1960, after it became the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Soon after the Secunderabad Municipality was merged with the Hyderabad Municipality (MCH). In 2007, the real land grab began in earnest. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) covering 626 square km was formed by the merger of the MCH with 12 outlying municipalities. As SKC says: “The expansion of GHMC has led to a sharp decline in vote share for MIM from 29% to 14% and an equivalent increase for the TDP and also the Congress (p.300)”. So much for the Muslim vote bank! If that was bad; worse was to come. In 2008, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority was created. It covers 7,073 square km with a population of over 7 million. On HMDA’s size SKC commented: “The area under HMDA is comparable to the size of smaller states. HMDA is almost twice the size of Goa, and much larger than the National Capital Territory of Delhi, which is 1,483 square km. It is much larger than Union Territories like Chandigarh (114 square km) and Puduchery (492 square km)…. HMDA covers a larger area, has political representation at the highest level of the state and is well funded and resourced, as compared to the GHMC (p.301-302).” Note the expressions “well funded and resourced” and “political representation at the highest level”- no talk about the residents and their role in the running of the municipality. Most citizens have no control over state and central politics and decisions but they usually can affect local ones.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 06:59:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015