For once, the civic officials decided to convene a meeting in an unconventional way. Mikes, office furniture and artificial ceiling was ditched for open air ambience while forming the backdrop was the historic Qutb Shahi Tombs as more than 70 higher officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) met on Tuesday.
The Zonal Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Additional Commissioners, health officials of GHMC and Archaeology Department officials participated in the day-long meeting to discuss a range of issues.
The meeting was held to create awareness among the officials to maintain and protect heritage structures in the city.
During the course of the meeting, Visalakshi, Director of the Archaeology Department, said that heritage buildings with historically important structures are more in the Greater Hyderabad area when compared to other States.
She said that there is a need to remove unauthorised encroachments near these tourist spots and sought the help of the GHMC in this matter, besides in also beautifying the area frequently visited by foreign and domestic tourists.
Speaking at the Seven Tombs, GHMC Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy told the officials to strive to keep the city clean.
He told the officials that there are 22,000 sanitation workers in the city, highest among other municipalities in the country, and they should utilise their services for the benefit of the city.
Reminding that 44 lakh dustbins have been distributed to houses to segregate dry and wet waste at source level and 2,000 auto trolleys have been pressed into service to collect them, he said that from January 26, the aim of the GHMC is to ensure that there is 100 per cent waste segregation in households.
He said that they would create awareness among the public with their new slogan that emphasis on remaining united as a family while focusing on separating waste.
The commissioner also spoke on the preparedness for the Swacch Survekshan survey and also evaluated the performance of circle level offices.
Property tax collection, defacement of public properties, court cases, elections and other issues were also discussed.
