The Government of Telangana is planning to take away the powers of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) following the frequent reports about corruption in the agency and to keep in abeyance its decisions taken during the last four months.
Official sources stated on Monday that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was highly perturbed over reports of continuing misdeeds and corruption in HMDA even after removal of the then Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad. It is understood that the government is planning to invest all decision-making powers on the issues tackled by the urban body in Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD).
Complaints and charges of corruption against HMDA were so grave that the Chief Minister had to cut short his visit to Mahabubnagar district last year, when he went there to lay foundation stone for construction of facilities belonging to multinational giants Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Cogent.
He rushed back to the city, called the Chief Secretary, and the HMDA Commissioner was shunted out.
Even the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs and MLAs are understood to have taken the corruption issue to the notice of the Chief Minister several times in the recent past.
There were complaints that some officials in HMDA were taking bribe running into lakhs and crores of rupees, sometimes to get the files processed and to give permissions and clearances.
However, continuing reports over corruption in HMDA were learnt to have angered the Chief Minister and prompted him to consider snapping power of the urban body.
It is stated that the government is planning to clear all permissions and clearances, ought to be done by HMDA, through Principal Secretary (MA&UD) and restricting the HMDA only with the responsibilities to implement the decisions taken by the government.
The Chief Minister is said to have discussed the issue in detail with the Principal Secretary concerned at a recent meeting and made some suggestions, including bringing-in amendments to the HMDA Act.
He observed how could the government keep quiet when the HMDA functioning is spoiling its reputation. Further, the MA&UD Principal Secretary was told to study the matters on which people are being troubled by HMDA authorities.
