Guntur civic body zeroes in on sites for secretariat offices, owners wary

Guntur: The stage is being readied for the setting up of ward secretariats in Guntur city. Authorities of the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) have identified all locations for launch of the new administrative set up that would come into being from October 2.

The state government has already accorded permission to the civic body to set up about 206 ward secretariats spread across 60 municipal divisions.

The government has directed the GMC to see that all the ward secretariat offices should contain enough space to accommodate at least 11 regular employees and visiting public. Each ward volunteer will take care of the grievances of 100 households. It means that about 50-60 ward volunteers are expected to be attached to each ward secretariat. As per the specifications, a ward secretariat office should be housed in about 2,000sft of space.

Keeping in view the government instructions, GMC has identified about 100 government buildings and 106 private buildings to house the new ward secretariats. Sources said that negotiations with the private building owners have been still inconclusive as most of the owners are reluctant to lease out their assets to the GMC. Although the civic body has offered to pay around Rs 15 per sft, building owners are not prepared to lease out to GMC with an apprehension over getting their rents regularly.

“We are negotiating with the owners as some of them are not ready to give the buildings on lease. We will go for alternative buildings if they are not ready,” said a senior official of the GMC. He said that they have zeroed in on the buildings keeping in view the convenience of locals.

After results to recruitment exams are released by September 20, the secretaries would undergo training at Human Resources Development (HRD) institute in Bapatla from September 25. The training is expected to last for a week and all the secretaries would be directed to report to their duties on October 1.