Seven months after polls, GHMC yet to form standing committee

HYDERABAD: More than seven months have passed since the GHMC elections were held but the civic body is yet to constitute a standing committee. Several important policy decisions including sanctioning of developmental works worth more than Rs 3 crore are pending as the State government has shown little enthusiasm in constituting the apex body of GHMC.

As per the GHMC Act, the standing committee should be constituted within three months from the date of the first meeting of the corporation. The GHMC polls were held in December last year and the government had conducted the polls two months in advance.

The committee should consist of not fewer than five and not more than 15 members. Since GHMC has 150 wards,  15 members will be elected by 150 corporators. Previously, the body was dominated by members from the TRS and AIMIM with nominal strength from other parties but currently, the body has 56 members from TRS, 44 from AIMIM, 47 from BJP and three from Congress. In the present circumstances, BJP is likely to win at least four to five seats in the committee polls and this is being considered as the reason behind the delay in its constitution.