Hyderabad denizens trash Centre’s Ease of Living Index

Assert Hyderabad way ahead of other cities in every sense

Hyderabad: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs ‘Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020’ rankings, in which Hyderabad is ranked 24, has been trashed by Hyderabadis who say the City of Pearls is way ahead of other cities in every sense.

Many, including entrepreneurs, students and professionals, strongly feel Hyderabad had all qualities and facilities to be ranked much higher, especially considering its performance in independent surveys conducted by different organisations, including global bodies, in the recent past.

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“A city like Hyderabad which is fast growing in every aspect is given 24th rank in ease of living index by Union Housing and Urban Ministry. The centre is so partial (sic) towards Telangana,” Mahesh Reddy, an entrepreneur, tweeted.

A senior government official, who didn’t want to be quoted, said Hyderabad was ranked the best city by Mercer’s ‘quality of living Index’ in the country. “Since 2015, for five consecutive years, Hyderabad has been adjudged the best city in quality of living index by the organisation. This speaks volumes about Hyderabad. It is strange that the city is not even ranked among the top three cities,” he said.

The EoLI is an assessment by the Ministry based on the quality of life, economic-ability of a city and its sustainability and resilience. The assessment also incorporates residents’ view on the services provided by administration through a Citizen Perception Survey. The rankings were announced on Thursday for different categories of cities based on the population of more than a million and less than a million.

In all, 111 cities participated in the exercise that was conducted in 2020. Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the million-plus category, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad and Chennai. In less than a million category, Shimla was ranked the best, followed by Bhubaneshwar and Silvassa.

“How can Hyderabad not figure in the EoLI when international organisations like JLL have been ranking the city as the best?” questioned Sujatha Rao, a private employee, adding that it was bothering to learn that Hyderabad was ranked very low.

Similar to the EoLI, the assessment framework under the Municipal Performance Index 2020 (MP1) had classified municipalities based on their population.

In the million-plus category, Indore emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal. In the less than million category, New Delhi Municipal Council leads the table, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.

The MPI seeks to examine local government practice in municipalities across areas of services, finance, policy, technology and governance. It seeks to simplify and evaluate the complexities in local governance practice and promote the ethos of transparency and accountability.

“Software employees and others working in different corporate companies have made Hyderabad their home. It is ridiculous that Hyderabad is not ranked among the top cities” said G Rajender, an insurance consultant.

 

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