Telangana reorganises GHMC into three corporations ahead of civic polls

Ahead of civic elections in Hyderabad, the Telangana government has reorganised the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) into three separate entities — Greater Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Malkajgiri. The move follows the recent merger of 27 suburban municipalities with the GHMC, significantly expanding the city’s geographical limits and transforming it into a megacity.

Under the new arrangement, the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation — covering the IT hub and financial district — will comprise the Serilingampally, Kukatpally and Qutbullapur zones. The Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation will include the Malkajgiri, Uppal and LB Nagar zones. The reconstituted GHMC will oversee the Shamshabad, Rajendranagar, Charminar, Golconda, Khairtabad and Secunderabad zones.

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According to the government order, “The Government, after careful examination and consideration of the administrative requirements arising out of the expansion of the city, hereby decides to reorganise the existing Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation into three separate municipal corporations.”

The state government has appointed senior IAS officer and Special Chief Secretary Jayesh Ranjan as the Special Officer for all three municipal bodies. R.V. Karnan will continue as Commissioner of GHMC, while G. Srijana has been posted as Commissioner of Cyberabad and T. Vinay Krishna Reddy as Commissioner of Malkajgiri.

Politically, the reorganisation comes at a time when the Congress has struggled to gain ground in Hyderabad. In the recent Assembly elections, the party failed to win a single seat in the city. Most Assembly seats were secured by the BRS, with the BJP winning one and the AIMIM seven. However, Congress has since won two by-elections in Hyderabad, defeating the BRS.

In the previous GHMC elections, the Congress managed to secure only two wards, while the BJP performed strongly at the expense of the BRS. The BRS retained control of the civic body with the support of the AIMIM. With the inclusion of peripheral municipalities and the administrative restructuring, the Congress hopes to regain lost ground in the city.