Hyderabad: An amendment bill, providing 50 per cent reservation for women in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, was passed on Tuesday by the Telangana Legislative assembly. The assembly, which met for a day, passed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, providing for the reservation and three other amendment bills.
Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, who introduced the bill, said the government had provided 50 per cent quota for women through a Government Order in the GHMC polls in 2015, which has been included in the legislation now. The amendment was important as the Centre had recently sought the state government’s views on providing 50 per cent reservation in all local bodies to women, he said.
Article 243T of the Constitution talks about providing at least one-third reservation for women in local governments, he said. Rama Rao said another amendment to the GHMC act was earmarking 10 per cent of funds in its budget to promote greenery in the city.
Earlier, only 2.5 per cent of the budget, on an average, used to be allocated for the ‘green budget’ in GHMC, he said. In the third amendment to the Act, four committees (Youth Committee, Senior Citizens Committee, Women’s Committee and Eminent Citizens Committee) would be appointed in every division (ward) in GHMC, he said.
Each committee, comprising 25 people, including women, would form 50 per cent of every committee, he said. With 100 people being part of the committees in all 150 divisions in GHMC, it would be a ‘peoples Army of 15,000,who will work on issues like promoting green cover, solid waste management, sanitation,unauthorised constructions,discouraging use of plastic and promotion of sports and parks, Rao said.
Fixing reservation for two terms for wards (divisions) is the fourth amendment to the GHMC Act Observing that accountability and continuity are missing among elected public representatives with reservations for wards changing often, Rama Rao said the government, through the amendment, proposes fixing reservations for two terms. He said the census conducted by the Centre takes place every 10 years.
The fifth is that the State Election Commission should take the concurrence of the state government on when to hold civic polls as several issues, including law and order, availability of staff and natural calamities, are involved. Responding to Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s query on reservation for backward classes, he said the existing quota of 33.33 per cent for BCs in the GHMC Act would continue as it is.
The term of the elected body of GHMC expires in February 2021 and the GHMC polls would be held soon. The Assembly also passed the Indian Stamp (Telangana Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Telangana Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non-Agricultural purposes) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Telangana Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The House was then adjourned sine die.
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