Hyderabad: Telangana govt delivered a shocker on Wednesday by splitting Hyderabad’s municipal administration into three corporations — the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC). It also appointed senior IAS officers as commissioners of the corporations — G Srijana for CMC and T Vinay Krishna Reddy for MMC.R V Karnan was retained as commissioner of GHMC.The move, seen as the most significant reorganisation of the civic body since 2007 when the erstwhile Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) was expanded into the GHMC, comes only months after the state govt announced a mega expansion of GHMC limits following merger of 27 surrounding urban local bodies with it — doubling its wards from 150 to 300. The expansion even positioned Hyderabad as the largest municipal corporation in India.Now, with the trifurcation — in line with major metropolitan cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru that function through multiple civic bodies — GHMC’s jurisdiction has reverted to 150 wards. While CMC will comprise 76 wards, MMC will have 74 wards.Though civic officials say the arrangement, aligned with the set-up of the city’s three police commissionerates, is aimed at decentralising governance and improving administrative efficiency in expanding urban zones, sources term it a political move. They claim it was influenced by pressure from ruling party MLAs over the past few months, who feared losing their authority in a consolidated corporation. AIMIM too objected to the merger plan, sources add.Jayesh Ranjan appointed special officerTo oversee the transition following the three-way split, the govt has entrusted Jayesh Ranjan, chief secretary (metropolitan area and urban development), with the additional charge of special officer for all three corporations. With the term of the GHMC’s elected body having ended on Feb 10, Ranjan will supervise governance across all 300 wards until the next municipal elections are conducted later this year.As per the new arrangement, GHMC will continue to function from its existing headquarters at Lower Tank Bund, while CMC will operate from a newly established office in the National Academy of Construction building at Hi-Tec City. MMC will be housed at the former Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority office at Tarnaka.“The restructuring is intended to create a more citizen-centric and future-ready urban governance framework for the Hyderabad metropolitan region, which now caters to an estimated 1.3 crore people living within the Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR),” said a senior GHMC official.GFXZONES IN 3 CORPNSGHMC: Secunderabad, Charminar, Khairatabad, Rajendranagar, Golconda, Shamshabad. Total area: 689 sq kmCMC: Serilingampally, Kukatpally, Quthbullapur. Total area: 680 sq km (approx)MMC: Malkajgiri, Uppal, LB Nagar. Total area: 685 sq km (approx)Corporation Zones Circles WardsGHMC 6 30 150CMC 3 16 76MMC 3 14 74
