City has fared poor in the rankings of Ease of Living Index and Municipal Performance given by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, as part of its Smart Cities project.
Hyderabad has been ranked 24 from among a total of 49 cities with over a million population, with its cousin and competitor Bengaluru capturing first place in the Ease of Living Index.
A total 111 cities have been ranked based on four parameters, termed as ‘pillars’, including Quality of Life, Economic Ability, Sustainability and Citizen Perception.
Based on the scores, they were divided into three colour zones, Green, Orange and Red.
Top 10
Begaluru has been given the top score of 66.7, with Pune finishing close with 66.27. Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore and Greater Mumbai were the remaining cities finding place in the top 10 ranks.
Several Tier-II cities including Solapur, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Pimpri Chinchwad, and Madurai fared better when compared with Hyderabad.
The city could save its honour with the score of 55.4-- which is about two points over and above the average score of 53.51-- and a Green colour coding given to cities with a score of over 50.
Scoring high at 70.7 on Citizens’ Perception, and decently at 58.69 on Sustainability, the city has been dragged down by its score of 30.05 in Economic Ability, just scraping through into Orange zone of moderate score in this aspect.
To its defence, several other cities, except Bengaluru and Delhi have been Oranged zoned in this parameter.
The city’s Quality of Life was given a rating of 51.28, which is not much to boast of either. Hyderabad has been ranked 11 in Economic Ability, 41 in Citizen Perception, 34 in Quality of Life and 17 in Sustainability.
Ease of Life Index ranking was conceptualised in 2018 and developed with a framework in 2020. It assesses liveability of Indian cities with four pillars spanning across 13 categories and 49 indicators, as per information from the Smart Cities web portal. Safe and liveable housing, good quality water and sanitation and access to good education and health facilities define the Quality of Life parameter, while the city’s ability to foster economic growth, decent jobs, and investor friendly climate are the markers for Economic Ability.
Sustainability is assessed by indicators such as climate change, greening and biodiversity, environmental management, reduction of energy consumption and disaster resilience.
Survey feedback
A total of 32 lakh citizens have been engaged in the survey for feedback.
The overall ranking of the city is 17 in Municipal Performance, based on five parameters, Services, Finance, Technology, Planning, and Governance.
With a score of 49.08, it missed the Green zone by a whisker and has been reduced to Orange zone, one rank below Patna.
Indore, Surat, Bhopal, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Greater Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Vadodara have been given the top 10 rankings under Municipal Performance.
