For a New Version of Ward Committees to be Effective in TS
By Dr. Rao V.B.J. Chelikani & Prof. T. Tirupati Rao, former Vice-Chancellor, O.U. Hyderabad. Recently the Government of Telangana made some amendments to the composition of the Ward Committees by a Municipalities Act 20 of 2020 , which simply says that there would be four ward committees for senior citizens, women, youth and eminent citizens. Each contains 25 members from among the resident welfare associations, community-based organisations, and other such groups and individuals by rotation annually. We welcome this initiative of the…
Unfair to Blame the Urban Residents
Rao V.B.J. Chelikani About 46.5 per cent of the Hyderabadis have gone to the polling stations to vote in the GHMC elections on 1st December. The figure is understandable and even slightly higher than that of 2016. Nothing warrants us to expect more and be disappointed. Even among those 34 lakhs who voted, 80% are living in populous and low-income areas or 'bastis' and they have voted because the political parties have collectively spent some Rs 320 crores on them, along with promises to do other things. Others voted because of…
Civil Society Pitches for Active Role for RWAs in Local Urban Governance
In a bid to strengthen the role of the RWAs in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, civil society representatives submitted a memorandum to the decision-makers in the Telangana state, including the GHMC Commissioner, Director of Municipal Administration, Principal Secretary of the Department and to the minister in charge of the portfolio, and also to the chief minister of Telangana State. Prepared based on inputs provided by Col. T.P. Tyagi, Major Shiv Kiran and B.T. Srinivasan, the memorandum is also proposed to serve as a…
Dengue: Accept the problem first to find a solution
India is under attack by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito leading to hundreds of suspected dengue deaths this season. And depending on which media you follow, Telangana and Delhi seem to be the most affected with the former having the dubious distinction of having the most affected patients, 4500 to 10,000, with some 150 plus cases reported in Delhi. According to News18 the death toll in Telangana on account of the dreaded vector borne illness has already crossed 56. However, this is only a guestimate as there are no verifiable official figures …
A Letter to All Political Parties in Telangana in View of Forthcoming Municipal Elections
15th July, 2019 Sir, There are going to be elections in the state of Telangana for the municipalities and corporations very soon and they will be followed by elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation also under a new Act. Naturally, all parties would be nominating their candidates to be councillors and corporators. We wish you success in your party’s efforts, notwithstanding the fact that we are not sure that political parties should be involved in local self-governing communities. Now, on behalf of a number of civil society or…
Flyovers - are they Necessary?
World Environment Day “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation.” Gustavo Petro Surprising that one should find the above quote, that too from a Colombian politician and former guerrilla, in an Indian government publication. But all the same, nothing sums up better all that is wrong with our urban transportation. And going by it, I must confess, despite sincere efforts to upgrade and become rich, I have not been able to do so. But then neither is India a developed country ye…
Residents rise to protect lake in Hyderabad
RWAs in the Ramakrishnapuram Lake area have taken it upon themselves to map waterbody and demand it's protection from encroachments and better implementation of development works This could perhaps be the story of any other lake in the twin-cities that are on the verge of death and the proposed cure to revive them threatening to be worse than the disease itself. The Ramakrishnapuram Lake, also known as Mukidi Cheruvu, located in Neredmet, near Ramakrishnapuram Railway Station in Hyderabad, was home to many migratory birds not very…
New Telangana Municipal Act should recognize RWAs, Trust and confidence should be cornerstone to new Act, RWAs to government
The new Municipal Act proposed to be legislated by Telangana, replacing the antiquated 1965 Act, should provide constitutional recognition to Resident Welfare Associations (RWA)s according them quasi-Urban Local Body (ULB) status, RWAs have suggested to the state government. Further, the new legislation should be predicated on a technology-assisted governance model based on trust and confidence for better service delivery by Urban Local Bodies (ULB) including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), they stressed participating in an…
Voter Awareness Campaign by UFERWAS
In the recent elections to the Telangana State Assembly, capital city Hyderabad recorded the lowest turnout at just 50% of the electorate. While this was attributed to voter apathy to a great extent, others pointed out to the widespread instances of missing names in the voter lists. Given that the General Elections are just 10 days away, the United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (U-FERWAS) has joined hands with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to improve polling percentages in the city. Towards this, the apex RWA…
It is Survekshan time again!
All participants gear up to put up a better show in the prestigious National level rankings for clean-city tag in the Survekshan With Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri kicking off the World’s largest cleanliness survey - the Swachh Survekshan 2019 on Friday, the die is cast for all actors in the exercise to play their part. The United Federation of RWAs (UFERWAS), body of over 3000 Resident Welfare Associations from Greater Hyderabad area, has accordingly upped the ante this year seeking to increase particip…
GHMC to push the pedal for awareness on civic issues among citizens, Students to be roped in for campaign
UFERWAS Felicitates 165 GHMC Staff for achieving top rank in Swachh Survekshan 2018 Hyderabad, May 25 The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will intensify its campaign to create awareness among citizens on different civic issues, particularly on dry and wet waste segregation across the city, Commissioner Dr B Janardhan Reddy said on Thursday. This is sought to be achieved by involving the young in the effort, he said adding about 10 lakh students would be roped in to kick off the campaign to build a viral impact and increase aware…
Governance of urban civic-authorities below par, Janaagraha Survey shows
There is a need for sharp focus on improving city-systems and institutional reforms, Janaagraha. The governance of urban civic authorities in most Indian cities leaves much to be desired for, if the findings of the latest Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS), are anything to go by. The Survey is published annually by the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (Janaagraha), a not-for-profit institution which seeks to transform the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. “Overall, India’s cities have continued to score low over t…
Citizens Entitlement Campaign Launched
[gallery link="none" size="large" ids="485,487" orderby="rand"] GHMC Commissioner stresses on citizens' duties along with entitlement More than 20 civil socity organisations and NGOs have come together to launch the Citizens Entitlement Campaign to enable citizens of the twin-cities to easily avail 56 services that are provided by GHMC, Water Works, and the Electricity departments, as per their Citizens’ Charters. Kick-starting the Campaign on 26th January, the GHMC Commissioner Mr. Janardhan Reddy s…
GHMC for senior citizens' role in Swach Sarvekshan
GHMC Commissioner Dr B. Janardhan Reddy has urged senior citizens in the city to prevail upon residents in their respective colonies to participate in keeping their environs clean and to participate in the Swach Programmes of the GHMC. “Senior citizens have an important role to play in educated residents in colonies and apartment complexes on issues like waste segregation and help GHMC in its Swach Sarvekshan drive,” the Commissioner said addressing representatives of various senior citizen associations in the twin cities on December 29. The m…
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