Hyderabad, October 13: Amidst pandemonium and boycott by opposition parties, Area Sabha Committees to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were finally constituted on Tuesday.
Before the start of the meeting, half-a-dozen Congress MLAs did not blocked the GHMC mayor Banda Karthika Reddy in her chambers for an hour, until the list of members submitted by respective MLAs was approved by the mayor.
1,081 persons from 150 wards hailing from the civil society, resident welfare associations and other sections got nominated during a special meeting held in the council hall. However, TDP, BJP and MBT corporators boycotted proceedings accusing the ruling Congress-MIM alliance of turning Area Sabhas into political rehabilitation centres for Congress and MIM workers. TDP floor leader Singiredy Srinivas Reddy and BJP floor leader, Bangari Prakash alleged that nomination of committee members had turned farcical as majority of them were party workers.
Area Sabha Committees are aimed at involving members from the civil society to participate in the city planning and development process. Instead of discussing about pathetic conditions prevailing in the city like poor sanitation, bad roads and nalas, the mayor is more keen on nominating Area Sabhas, Prakash said. TDP and BJP corporators rushed to the podium and demanded the Mayor to hold a separate meeting to discuss the problems.
Though the mayor tried to pacify agitating members but they did not relent. There was a heated argument between the mayor and TDP-BJP corporators, forcing the latter to boycott the meeting. After the boycott of TDP, BJP and MBT, the nomination process was completed in less than two hours, as the council was left with only the Congress and MIM members.
Earlier, half-a-dozen Congress MLAs, Bhikshapathi Yadav, K Srisailam Goud, Sudheer Reddy, Raji Reddy, T Manemma and Akula Rajender did allow Karthika Reddy to move out her chambers until the list of members submitted by respective MLAs were approved by the mayor. Women from 14 ward committees who could not be nominated last time were nominated on Tuesday.
-Agencies