Telangana Govt approves HYDRAA to safeguard Hyderabad's public assets

Hyderabad: More than two weeks after the Telangana governor approved the ordinance amending the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Act, 1955, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department (MA&UD) principal secretary Dana Kishore issued a Government Order (GO) to engage the services of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA).

According to the GO, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is one of the biggest urban local bodies in the country, covering about 650 sq kms. Commensurate with its size, the number and size of public assets like parks, grounds, lakes, and others under GHMC are vast and spread across its jurisdiction. With growing urbanisation, these public assets are increasingly vulnerable to encroachments.

“Protection of these public assets has assumed greater significance as most of these assets act as lung spaces for the city environs, useful for future recreational and essential community needs as well as indispensable to mitigate climate change effects. As such, it is imperative that these valuable assets need to be protected with proper attention and constant surveillance, which can be possible by a specialised agency with professional approach,” reads GO.

Against the above backdrop, it is essential to engage the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) for effective protection of all Public Assets within GHMC. The protection of such assets would be helpful in Disaster mitigation efforts. The HYDRAA, a specialized agency for Disaster Management and Asset Protection, can take care of both the issues.

New Ordinance was approved by Telangana Governor recently

It is pertinent to note that the new ordinance grants powers to the GHMC Commissioner to engage specialized agencies like HYDRAA for disaster response and asset protection. It introduces a new section, 374-B, to the GHMC Act, empowering the government to authorize any officer, agency, or authority to exercise the powers of the Corporation and the Commissioner to protect public assets.The ordinance may be called the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024.