GHMC grapples with ward committee member selection

- Corporation receives more than 5,000 applications for 1,473 ward committee member posts

Hyderabad: Finalising the list of ward committee members has turned into a herculean task for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation staff. The corporation has decided to hold a special council meeting on Saturday to elect the ward committee members. The civic body in order to elect 1,473 ward committee members has received more than 5,000 applications.

Interestingly, about 60 per cent of ward committee members proposed by the Corporators, MLA, MPs and cabinet ministers belong to opposition parties. Citing this, corporation has been postponing the ward committee election for past three months. Highly placed sources in the corporation said the State government has been forcing the corporation to elect ward committee members before next Assembly session and are insisting to finish the process by first week of December.

The ward committee consists of member of the corporation representing the ward- Corporator- who will be the chairperson of the ward committee. Not more than 10 members from the civic society would be nominated as ward committee members and in case if there are more than 10 eligible nominations, the corporation will nominate the required number of persons by voice vote.

Of the 10 members, two would be nominated from registered resident welfare associations (RWAs), in the event of non-availability of RWA members, a member of registered tax payers association and two members from slum development federation or representative of senior most self help group in the ward would be selected.

Maddy Deekshith