Happy to pull GHMC out of the red: Hyderabad Mayor Majid Hussain
His term will come to an end on December 3
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-12-03 04:49 GMT
Hyderabad: Pulling the GHMC out of the red is my biggest achievement, said Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain, whose term will come to an end on December 3. Mr Hussain had a three-year term as the First Citizen. “When I took over, GHMC had an overdraft of '480 crore. Today the revenues have crossed Rs 1,000 crore and the corporation has a surplus budget of Rs 600 crore,” he said.
The corporation had just Rs 20 crore when he took over, said Mr Hussain, who took charge on January 4, 2011. “The total revenue collected was around Rs 500 crore, only Rs 300 crore from property tax,” said Mr Hussain, who had previously worked with HSBC.
“I never increased property tax. Illegal structures were brought under assessment." The standing committee headed by the Mayor increased the annual Budget of corporators from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore. For the first time, it was also decided that Rs 20 lakh from the amount would be spent for water and sewerage works.
The standing committee also conducted a job mela which saw 11,000 applicants, Mr Hussain said. The Deepam scheme was introduced to provide 150 families in each ward with cylinders.
“The corporators’ budget was increased to Rs 1.5 cr annually,” he said. In other measures, Rs 2 lakh was given per ward for gym equipment, Budget allocations were made for self-help groups and self employment schemes. The GHMC introduced online services and provided birth and death certificates within 24 hours.
“My team was awarded for the best civic administration in 2012 by the Centre,” Mr Hussain said. But there are some regrets too. There are many schemes like Muskaan free education, reverse osmosis plants to provide drinking water, Re 1 breakfast just could not take off.
The Muskaan scheme is under detail study with regard to faculty, tenders have been called for RO plants. The Re 1 breakfast scheme has not gone any further from the announcement. “Certain schemes were not implemented because the GHMC general body meeting was not held,” he said.