Over the last two months, the state government has carried out the process of merger and defusion for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) with much fanfare – first by integrating the fringe municipalities/corporations into a single corporation and then by dividing the extended area into three corporations, assigning responsibilities accordingly and appointing a special officer to oversee the affairs of all the three corporations.
A total of 27 municipalities/corporations have been merged into GHMC. Later Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation, each with three zones, were carved out of it. Employees, right from the computer operators, were transferred and adjusted between the three corporations.
However, the tri-corporation area will suffer from severe shortage of staff in all wings, especially in the town planning department, which is tasked with the difficult job of checking unauthorized constructions in the city.
According to the recommendations of an expert committee set up in 2013 under the chairmanship of retired bureaucrat M. Prasada Rao to study the staffing structure after the merger of the municipalities in 2007, the town planning departments of all the three municipalities together should have more than 1,000 employees. However, the current strength is less than 100, officials said on condition of anonymity.
The Expert Committee proposed a staff strength of 14 for the Town Planning Department in each circle, including a Deputy Town Planner, an Assistant Town Planner, eight Town Planning Section Officers/Superintendents, a Town Surveyor, a Superintendent, a Principal Assistant and an Assistant Assistant.
Nine staff members were recommended for each Zonal Office which included a Town Planner, two Assistant Town Planners, four Section Clerks/Supervisors, one Senior Assistant and one Assistant Assistant, a total of 63 staff being the recommended strength for the Central Town Planning Office.
Due to the lack of new recruits, the functioning of the department received a severe beating, a number of illegal structures appeared everywhere, which did not take place at all. The Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) had recruited 175 candidates for the Directorate of Town and Country Planning a year ago, out of which only 140 remained. Out of this GHMC got only 10.
“The minimum strength required for each circle is one Deputy Director, one ACP and eight Section Clerks. Here we are left with one Section Clerk and one ACP manning two circles,” said the official on condition of anonymity.
The civic bodies within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits, which were merged with the GHMC, had no sanctioned posts but only officers on deputation. Therefore, they contributed little in terms of squad strength.
“There were only commissioner and manager posts in these corporations,” the official said.
Published – 16 Feb 2026 20:31 IST