Andhra Pradesh government comes under fire for not appointing GVMC Commissioner

The Hindu

16 hours ago

The NDA government has come under severe criticism over the non-appointment of a Commissioner for the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) for the past four months. Not just the members of the opposition, even some NDA leaders expressed displeasure over the GVMC not having a chief over hundred days, during the council meeting organised by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on Friday.
Corporators of the YSRCP staged a protest in front of the Mayor's podium. They alleged sheer negligence by the NDA government over the municipal corporation. They argued that the prolonged absence of a GVMC chief has significantly disrupted the corporation's functioning. They also criticised that the non-appointment of Commissioner reflects the interest of the NDA government on Visakhapatnam.
Rajya Sabha member Golla Babu Rao and YSRCP floor leader Banala Srinivasa Rao expressed dissent, stating that lack of a Municipal Commissioner is affecting the civic administration. They also found fault with burdening the District Collector with additional GVMC administration workload. They also urged the Collector to somehow dedicate two hours 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the corporation to address civic issues.
Visakhapatnam North MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju also supported the statements of Mr. Golla Babu Rao. He said the civic body should pass a resolution seeking appointment of a Municipal Commissioner. With Visakhapatnam set to host the International Yoga Day celebrations, likely to be attended by the Prime Minister, he emphasised the urgency of having a full-time Municipal Commissioner in place to oversee preparations.
Stormy affair
The council meeting held on Friday, was the first for this year and also after the NDA taking over the positions of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. The council was stormy affair witnessing intense debates with heated arguments being exchanged between the YSRCP and the NDA leaders.
YSRCP Deputy Mayor K. Satish and Mr. Banala Srinivasa Rao accused the administration of ignoring their development proposals. They alleged that projects proposed by them in their wards were excluded from the planning agenda, with preference being given to those recommended by NDA MLAs.
There was strong response from the corporators from the JSP. JSP floor leader B Vasantha Lakshmi claimed that during the previous YSRCP government, proposals from certain YSRCP leaders such as K.K. Raju and V. Vijaya Sai Reddy, who held no official positions in the corporation, were given preference to those of NDA corporators.
Responding to the JSP corporators, Mr. Banala Srinivasa Rao pointed out that, according to the GVMC Engineering wing, six of the 10 wards that saw the most development in the past four years were represented by TDP corporators, suggesting a balanced approach during the YSRCP's tenure.
Heated arguments were exchanged when some of the YSRCP corporators questioned presence of former MLA Peela Govinda Satyanarayana in the council. They recalled that earlier, the TDP corporators questioned the presence of YSRCP MLC Varudu Kalyani in the council.
The GVMC Secretary immediately clarified that Mr. Satyanarayana, now holding a post of Chairman of AP Urban Finance & Infrastructure Development Corporation, had received formal permission from the government to attend the council meeting.