HYDERABAD : Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi on Tuesday announced that action would be initiated against any officer working in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for showing disrespect to corporators and not responding to their phone calls. Officers found neglecting their duties would be repatriated to their parent departments, she added.
During the GHMC council meeting, corporators of several parties complained to the mayor that a few officers were not responding to their calls and avoided meeting them when they wanted to discuss citizens’ problems. Due to unresolved civic issues, the corporators claimed they were not able to face the people in their respective divisions. Vanasthalipuram corporator R Venkateshwar Reddy of the BJP said, “GHMC officers are treating the corporators worse than dogs.”
“When we call the mayor and or GHMC commissioner, they take the calls of corporators and respond to our pleas. Meanwhile, the officers are quite the opposite, they do not lift the calls of the corporators and even avoid meeting them. If that is the case, what is the point of giving air-conditioned offices and AC cars to the officers who show disrespect to the corporators,” he added.
House committees set up
To probe irregularities in the sanitation and the advertisment wings of the GHMC, Vijayalaxmi announced that house committees have been set up to probe the alleged irregularities. One corporator from every political party will be part of the committees.
In terms of sanitation, the majority of the corporators said that garbage vulnerable points (GVP) are increasing. Apart from the health issues, they have become an eyesore as the garbage is not being lifted timely, they said, adding that there was an urgent need to eliminate GVPs, which are more than 1,100. They demanded that the mayor sanction more sweeping units and appoint sanitation workers, adding that many of the personnel have either retired or passed away.
A large number of new buildings are coming up in the city and the population is increasing with each passing day, so there is a need for more sweeping units, they said.
Additional Commissioner (Sanitation) Upender Reddy said 492 GVP points have been eliminated. An application has been developed to monitor GVPs and the same will be shared with corporators by providing the logins, he added.
Tax collection
In regards to property tax collection, the corporators complained that many residential buildings have turned into commercial complexes, leading to huge property tax losses to the GHMC.
Commissioner Rose said the corporation is going to take up GIS mapping of all the properties in the city to solve the issue of unassessed and under-assessed properties. In response of complaints that cellars in complexes are being misused for carrying out commercial activities, the town planning wing will inspect these complexes and action will be taken against those misusing the cellars, he added.
The GHMC is also integrating the data with TSSPDCL and HMWS&SB to remove the anomalies. About 32,000 PTIN numbers of self-assessments were blocked due to lack of documents, GHMC officials said.
The council also discussed the sports facilities. A majority of corporators voiced grievances over inadequate sports infrastructure in their respective divisions and urged prompt action. They said most of the stadiums are being misused and that there is a need to put checks on them. Some indoor stadiums are misused and used for conducting functions, they said, adding that there are no CCTV cameras or security personnel to monitor the complexes.