Hyderabad: GHMC has introduced a ward system across the city to provide better governance to the people, City Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi on Thursday said. She, along with GHMC Commissioner D S Lokesh Kumar and Water Board MD Dana Kishore inaugurated a training programme of ward officers at the GHMC headquarters.

Speaking on the occasion, the Mayor said following the vision of Municipal Administration Minister K Taraka Rama Rao, one ward was being set up for a population of 50,000, she said, adding that the ward administration system would soon be launched with a team of ten officers from different departments.

She said as part of the ward level administration, the ward system would work with an aim of taking prompt action against the complaints received from thepublic and added that the information regarding the status of the complaint would be shared with the complainant immediately. She said the concerned officials would look into the problems of drinking water at the ward level, sewerage, sanitation, town planning and so on at the field level and work towards resolving the problem in due course of time based on the citizen chart.

The Mayor also said the authorities should listen to the grievances of the citizens, collect applications and take steps on a war-footing to resolve such issues. She said the officials should fulfil the government’s objectives with a positive attitude towards the people with patience, transparency and accountability. She said the Ward level officers should be available to corporators and public representatives.

The Mayor released a book on code of conduct related to ward administration on the occasion. GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar said by setting up the ward system, people’s problems coming from all over the city would be solved easily and expeditiously. He said the ward offices would have GHMC departments such as biodiversity, health, sanitation, town planning, ward engineer, entomology, water works, electricity, community and so on. He said the people would not have to go to the head office or circle and zonal offices to air their problems and added that they should approach the ward offices where their problems are heard and solved by the officials concerned.

Stating that most of the complaints are coming from sanitation, town planning and engineering departments, he said the ward level staff should first visit the ward in the morning and work towards solving the problems and added that from 3 pm to 5 pm, everyone should be present at the ward office. He said the issues should be resolved as per the citizen chart at the ward level. He said the ward system should function as a civil services delivery centre and added that a comprehensive training on various departments such as town planning, entomology, sanitation, water works and so on was being conducted with HoDs in the respective zones across the City.