HYDERABAD: Nizampet residents, who are recovering from the damage caused by the recent rains, are planning to start a campaign to have the area included under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Though Nizampet is considered a part of Hyderabad and is a popular residential area, it comes under an independent Gram Panchayath falling in the Ranga Reddy district limits.
As Gram Panchayaths have limited resources, especially to address disasters and emergencies, the residents want the area to be included in GHMC, as the urban body will have the requisite staff and experience to take care of their needs.
“During the heavy rains, though our homes and whole area got submerged, no official or member from the gram panchayath visited and there was no help. Only after Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao visited the place, did officials and gram panchayath members came to see us. Even after that, Army, police and fire services department staff came to our rescue and took part in rescue measures. If we were in GHMC limits, at least we would have someone to approach during an emergency,“ said G Venkateshwar Rao, a resident of Bhandari Layout.
Nizampet gram panchyath has a population of about 1.5 lakh and is divided into 20 wards. As it was one of the sought-after residential area during real estate boom in Hyderabad, it quickly developed. But infrastructure and basic amenities were not developed apace to meet requirements of the growing population.
“There is no drainage facility in Nizampet. The reason for most of the areas submerging in Nizampet during recent heavy rains was lack of drainage facility. We pay property tax and all other bills for gram panchayath. But we do not know, why panchayath administration is not developing basic amenities. If panchayath is unable to help people even during emergency situations like recent rains, then what is the use? Therefore we are planning to start a campaign demanding government to include Nizampet in GHMC limits,” said G Madhusudan, a resident and member of Nizampet Common Man Forum.
As Nizampet is one of the popular areas, it has good revenue sources and it has an annual income of Rs 13 to 15 crore. The revenue is collected from sources like property tax, trade licenses, charges laid for giving permissions to new constructions, among others. But residents complain that the gram panchayath is not utilising these funds to create basic amenities.
Nizampet Gram panchayath member V Dhanunjaya agreed that panchayath was unable to address problems caused by recent rains.
“Gram panchayaths do not have the requisite manpower and machinery to address disasters like these. As we are not part of GHMC, people did not have any help from urban body. We will try to step up our administration even to address emergencies in the future,” said V Dhanunjaya.