Hyderabad: The State Government has decided to merge 51 villages located within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) area into nearby municipal bodies. These villages are in the Medchal-Malkajgiri, Rangareddy, and Sangareddy districts. This decision was formalized through an ordinance issued by the government.
With this change, the entire area within the ORR will now be considered an urban area. Officials explained that the decision was made based on advice from experts who recommended that the ORR region should be developed as an Urban Region. The government has been planning this merger for quite some time.
To prepare for this change, the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) was given the task of studying the potential impact of merging these villages with Urban Local Bodies. The experts from ASCI visited the villages in Medchal, Rangareddy, and Sangareddy districts to understand the local governance and the lifestyles of the residents. Following their study, the government formed a committee of district officials to explore how urban governance could be implemented in these areas.
A Cabinet Sub-committee, which included Ministers D Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Seethakka, and Damodar Rajanarsimha, also reviewed the situation and made recommendations for the merger. As a result, the government decided to move forward with merging all 51 villages into neighboring municipalities. This merger has led to an increase in the number of wards in 13 municipalities.
