The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : GHMC officials plan to redesign Council Hall

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Thursday, Dec 17, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

GHMC officials plan to redesign Council Hall

Special Correspondent

To accommodate 150 corporators apart from 65 ex-officio members

Engineering wing has come up with a near
Rs. 80 lakh budget
While Jubilee Hall has space to seat all members, such an arrangement may not work later

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has begun planning for the first meeting of the elected council scheduled to be held either in the second or third week of January.

Though the swearing in as well as the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor has been held at the Jubilee Hall, Public Gardens, the consensus among senior officials is to conduct the next meeting at the old Council Hall in the head office complex.

Senior officials point out that the Jubilee Hall has just enough space to seat the members yet such a temporary arrangement might not work out when normal proceedings of the council are held with the Mayor chairing the session.

There is now serious thinking to once again review the plan to ‘re-do’ the old Council Hall so as to accommodate the members – 150 corporators plus 65 ex-officio members.

The engineering wing has come up with a near Rs. 80 lakh budget to restructure the Council Hall so as to accommodate all the members by breaking down the walls and rebuilding along with a few changes in the internal seating arrangements.

This idea was not taken up before as some senior officials felt that spending close to Rs. 1 crore to make changes in the old Council Hall was not tenable when the 15-storied office building cum council complex was being built near the Indira Park.

However, under the current circumstances and financial state, it has dawned upon officials that constructing the edifice with Rs. 50 crore will take quite some time. Hence, it was best to make use of the existing facility.

Committees

A decision on the number of ward committees to be formed is yet to be taken but going by the precedent, there could be 15 such committees – one for every 10 divisions.

Corporators elected as chiefs of each of these ward committees will become members of the Standing Committee to be chaired by the Mayor.

The number of co-opted members is to remain at five like last time, senior officials added.

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