Hyderabad: With just 10 days remaining until the end of the term of its elected body, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) approved a budget of Rs 11,460 crore for the 2026–27 financial year on Saturday.At the meeting, corporators described the budgetary allocations as insufficient and unrealistic for a growing megapolis. They argued that the approved budget of Rs 11,460 crore for the 2026–27 financial year was inadequate, particularly in light of the merger of 27 municipalities and the expansion of the GHMC’s jurisdiction to nearly 2,000 square kilometres.
They noted that, when the city covered just 650 sq km in 2025–26, the budget was around Rs 8,500 crore, and that the current allocation failed to reflect the civic body’s expanded scale and responsibilities.The council members also criticised the budget preparation process, stating that allocating funds without a clear assessment of the assets, revenues and outstanding debts of the 27 merged municipalities was illogical and financially unsound. They warned that such an approach could lead to long-term fiscal challenges for GHMC.Questions over single-corporation budgetMalkajgiri corporator V Sravan questioned the rationale behind preparing a budget for a single GHMC corporation when discussions were underway to divide the corporation into three separate civic bodies. He asked how the unified budget would be distributed in the event of a bifurcation and whether such a budgeting exercise was practical under the prevailing circumstances.“The budget book did not comprehensively capture financial details related to expenditure on existing GHMC assets. Furthermore, the asset recovery and valuation of the 27 newly formed ULBs were not fully included, adding that modern tools such as AI could be used to prepare more accurate estimates,” he said. Budget lacks clarityFormer mayor and ex officio member Majid Hussain criticised the absence of zone-wise budget allocations in the document. With the increase in wards, the reorganisation of circles and the expansion of zones from six to 12, as well as the integration of 27 ULBs, he said that corporators had the right to know the population of each zone and how funds would be distributed accordingly.“While the overall budget stands at Rs 11,460 crore, it remains unclear which zone will receive what allocation and how population size factors into budgeting. Citizens will judge the budget not by its size, but by visible improvements in sanitation, drainage, roads and other civic services that directly impact daily life,” he pointed out.Highlighting the increasing number of dog bite incidents in the city, Sitaphalmandi corporator Samala Hema raised public safety concerns. She recalled that GHMC had previously proposed identifying locations on the city outskirts to which stray dogs could be relocated, but pointed out that this proposal had not yet been implemented. She urged the civic body to act swiftly on the issue.Budget preparation was challenging:While acknowledging that preparing the 2026–27 budget presented greater challenges than in previous years, GHMC commissioner RV Karnan stated that, following the merger of 27 municipalities into the civic body, the assessment of their assets and liabilities was conducted prior to finalising the budget.He added that property tax assessment and collection were now fully online through an end-to-end system, which would also be extended to the newly merged municipalities. The commissioner said that the budget had been prepared with public needs and long-term development priorities in mind.Later in the day, GHMC mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi said that, during her five-year tenure, her administration had prioritised infrastructure development and the strengthening of the sanitation system across Greater Hyderabad. She said that these efforts aimed to improve civic services and the overall quality of life for citizens.
