GHMC better than Mumbai: Mayor

How good is the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at  coping with heavy downpour? If one were to believe Mayor Mohd Majid Hussain, it is much better than its Mumbai counterpart. “The city of Mumbai got flooded after a rainfall of just 6 cm but GHMC was able to cope with a rainfall of 7-10 cm. This shows the efficient working of the GHMC,” said the Mayor expressing confidence that the civic body’s functioning would improve further in the near future.

Speaking at a meeting of the Standing Committee on the preparedness of GHMC  here on Wednesday, he recalled that the first monsoon rainfall in the city measured up to 7 cm and crossed even 10 cm at some places in the west zone. Meanwhile, taking a serious view of the contractors’ failure to deliver, the Standing Committee suspended 53 of them basing on the reports of the zonal commissioners. Of them, 13 were from the north zone, 9 from central zone, 14 from west zone, 12 from south and five from the east zone. The suspensions varied from one to three years.

The zonal commissioners have also been instructed to submit a weekly list of works that are not started, notices issued to contractors and blacklisted / suspended contractors. Additional Commissioner (Advertisements) has been instructed to furnish a list of hoardings at the next Standing Committee meeting.

Taking on complaints from all members that they were not given any play equipment in the last three years, the Sports Director informed that the sanction process for almost all the corporators has been completed and within a week, the equipment will be supplied. On complaints about Indira Park being used by some idol makers, the Additional Commissioner (Parks) has been instructed to give details of parks which are used for some other purposes.

The Additional Commissioner (Electrical) has been directed to make all necessary arrangements for arranging temporary street lighting near religious places. The standing committee has also decided to place temporary bins near prominent temples with a vehicle to transfer the garbage for Bonalu festival. The also sought a written explanation from officers who did not turn up on time for the Standing Committee meeting.

Further, the mayor also said he would be conducting surprise inspections of various shops and establishments and will strictly implement the ban on plastic by imposing heavy penalties. Assistant Medical Officers of Health have been directed to personally monitor the ban on plastic and give report compliance so as to strictly implement the ban.