GHMC Council passes ₹11,460 crore budget for FY 2026-27

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Council, during its final general body meeting on Saturday, passed a ₹11,460 crore Budget for its expanded region, for the financial year 2026-27.

Members of the council, including corporators and legislators, raised several important questions about the ambiguous portions of the budget proposals, which went unanswered by Commissioner R.V. Karnan, who presented the budget, and Additional Commissioner (Revenue) Anurag Jayanti, who read the budget copy.

MIM legislator Mohammed Majid Hussain, and BJP corporator Sravan Vurapalli questioned how the budget would be apportioned among three corporations after trifurcation of GHMC. Mr. Hussain questioned the very validity of the delimitation and merger, which had not been presented to the Standing Committee before it was presented to the council.

Mr. Hussain and Mr. Vurapalli both dismissed the GHMC’s claim that property tax had not been raised for the past 20 years, and pointed out that the tax was re-calibrated so that even poor people ended up paying more.

Mr. Hussain called into question the capital expenditure planned for the year, ₹1,090 crore of which went into the flyover projects around KBR Park, asking how the government planned to develop infrastructure in the rest of the city.

Recalling the death of two persons in Afzal Sagar nala, he sought to know how the government planned to develop drains, and construct foot over bridges, rainwater harvesting pits in the city, and supply drinking water to the areas earlier represented by the 27 merged municipalities or corporations.

No break up was provided for the budget allocations to the ULBs, he pointed and said 70% of the infrastructural development work is yet to be taken up in these regions. He and Mr.Vurapally, both sought actual figures of property tax and other details from the ULBs to be tabled.

Mr. Hussain also questioned the rationale behind allocating ₹9,200 crore for 650 square kilometres of the erstwhile GHMC area, and mere ₹2,260 crore for 1,400 square kilometres of the newly merged area.

Mr. Vurapalli too questioned why no break up was being provided for the receipts and expenditure of the newly merged ULBs even while their budget is shown separately. Pointing out that the salaries of the staff in all the ULBs were being paid from the State government’s coffers, he said GHMC too should seek payment of the salaries from the same source. He also demanded a raise in the salaries of outsourced workers.

He sought to know the truth about an alleged proposal, to assign to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, the authority over construction projects exceeding 10 floors in height coming up in the merged ULBs. If true, it is a very objectionable proposal, and every paisa from GHMC area should belong to the city, he said.

The GHMC is receiving a pittance as rent from its estates, he said, and stressed the need for reclaiming the properties and assigning them to the eligible poor. Mr. Vurapalli also sought clarity about drastic changes in a few heads, compared to the previous budget.

The Council also paid tributes to BJP corporator from Champapet, Vanga Madhusudan Reddy, who passed away recently.