HYDERABAD: Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi took a strong objection to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Affairs (MoHUA) ranking Hyderabad 24th in the Ease of Living Index (EoLI).
She made it clear that Hyderabadis would not accept the ranking, as the city was not lagging behind other metros in the country in terms of development and infrastructure.
Mayor said that city’s ranking was downgraded due to ‘political malice’, and pointed out that the EoLI announced by the Union Ministry lacked credibility. She challenged the methodology of the ranking, and found arbitrariness in the index. She said that Hyderabad has high standards in terms of development, infrastructure, quality of life, peace and security.
“The ranking is based on 79 indicators, which are grouped under four categories. Quality of life, which includes education, health, housing and drinking water, is given just 35 per cent weightage, while economic ability is given 15 percent weightage,” she said. “Public services, which fall under the first category, demand a bigger weightage. The absence of any indicators that speaks of job or productivity naturally reduces the value of the Index,” she added.
The Mayor said that many multinational companies have opened their offices in Hyderabad, and companies like JLL and Mercer have declared it the best livable city for the last five years in a row.