TS first to give 50pc quota for women in local bodies: KTR
MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao pointed out that the TRS had set an example for others by getting women to win from 79 municipal divisions though only 75 seats reserved to them of the total 150 divisions in the GHMC.
Hyderabad: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said 50 per cent reservation for women in the GHMC Council was being implemented following an electoral promise made by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao earlier.
Rama Rao pointed out that the TRS had set an example for others by getting women to win from 79 municipal divisions though only 75 seats reserved to them of the total 150 divisions in the GHMC. He said Telangana had become the first State to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in all local bodies through amendments to Panchayat Raj Act, the Municipal Act and the GHMC Act.
Introducing the GHMC (Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the Assembly, Rama Rao said the State had already achieved the feat even before the Centre started making efforts and sought the opinion of the State to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in all legislative houses as per Article 243 (T), which mandates 33 per cent reservation.
The Minister said another amendment was to make a provision for setting aside 10 per cent of the total GHMC budget for improving greenery, which is already being implemented across all local bodies in the State. He said the green budget of the GHMC was only 2.5 per cent, which would be now increased to 10 per cent. “The Forest Research Institute has released a report recently revealing that the green cover in the State has increased by 6-7 per cent. This can be attributed to various measures by the State government,” he added.
Rama Rao said the responsibility of ensuring 85 per cent survival of saplings had been rested with the elected representatives and officials.
Responding to questions raised by the legislators, Rama Rao said all the four citizen committees to be constituted would meet once in every three months and make suggestions to the GHMC Council for improving facilities in their respective divisions.
While separate rules would be issued soon, he reiterated that the committees would only have an advisory role to supplement and complement the responsibilities of the elected representatives. He insisted that they were not meant to undermine the corporators in any manner and said they would be constituted without any political influence.
On the requests for implementing the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS) in the GHMC area, the Minister said about 1.13 lakh BRS applications were pending with the corporation. He said the government was making efforts to vacate the stay orders issued by the High Court, following which the State government would implement the BRS as a one-time measure. Further, he clarified that the existing laws providing reservations to the backward classes would not be disturbed. Against the mandatory 33 per cent reservations to the BCs, he reminded that the TRS had 83 of its corporators from the backward classes in the GHMC Council. He also assured to convene a meeting with the old city MLAs to resolve pending issues.
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