Hyderabad, which has become India’s largest city by municipal area after the 27 urban local bodies surrounding it were merged into the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), is likely to be divided into three municipal corporations in February this year.
The Telangana government took the merger decision on November 21, 2025. The city’s jurisdiction has since expanded from 651 square km to 2,053 square km with an estimated population of 1.3 crore people.
Post-merger, the number of zones doubled from six to 12, while circles increased from 30 to 60, and wards expanded from 150 to 300.
The city's new administrative structure was operationalised on December 26, with 12 zonal chiefs taking charge. However, this could change in February.
Talking to the media recently, GHMC commissioner R.V. Karnan hinted that the city could be divided into three municipal corporations in February. The GHMC could be divided into either three municipal corporations of 100 wards each or one large corporation with 175 wards and two others getting 75 wards each.
In a related development, the state government has reorganised the city's three police commissionerates into four. From the existing Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda commissionerates, Rachakonda was dropped, and the Malkajgiri and Future City commissionerates were added.
This redistricting is significant in two ways.
Firstly, the Future City commissionerate could further bolster the efforts of Revanth Reddy’s government to give full shape to a futuristic urban area within three years.
The Future City is located just 25km away from the city’s international airport in the south of Hyderabad, and contains about 20,000 acres of government land.
Secondly, the dropping of the Rachakonda commissionerate is also significant, due to the purported caste angle behind the move.
The Rachakonda commissionerate was formed on June 23, 2016, following the Telangana government splitting the Cyberabad commissionerate into two.
The name 'Rachakonda' was given by former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).
In that regard, the Reddy government's decision to drop the name did not surprise many, despite no prior discussions on the topic.
The name is derived from the Rachakonda Fort, built in around 1360 AD by Recherla Anapota Nayaka and located 70km away from today’s Hyderabad.
Anapota Nayaka is largely identified with the Velama caste, to which KCR belongs. This is why it is speculated that the commissionerate name change had a caste angle behind it.
The Reddys and the Velamas are two dominant castes in Telangana that have been in direct competition for power since the state of Telangana was formed in 2014.