JOIN USHubballi-Dharwad rank low in ease of living index, dragged down by poor use of technology
The twin cities of Karnataka saw poor rankings in the Ease of Living (EOL) Index and municipal performance index released this week by the Centre for 2020 on the back of lagging digital payments, absence of recreation and entertainment centres, and ward committees.
Hubballi-Dharwad, found in the 10-lakh-plus population category, ranks an abysmal 37th of the 49 cities evaluated for EOL, while in the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) the twin cities rank 21st. The only satisfactory note is that Hubballi-Dharwad ranked second in EOL and first in MPI for the state.
A total of 111 Smart Cities were evaluated based on their efforts to cultivate a better quality of life, create infrastructure, and address challenges of urbanisation across India. And the twin cities have scored an overall point of 51.39 (out of 100) in EOL and 48.14 in the MPI.
Poor in technology
The cities score a mere 15.89 points and rank 46th in use of technology. Limited use of technology in payment of taxes to Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike, payment towards NWKRTC and others which could help in bringing in transparency in the administration, were the reasons behind this.
The conjoined cities also performed poorly on the economic ability, scoring just 6.58 points and ranking 40th. In the citizens' perception survey, Hubballi-Dharwad ranks 40th and has scored 71 points, while the nation's average is 76.8 points.
On the brighter side, the twin cities rank 5th when it comes to finance and 13 at the national level for planning.
Speaking to DH, HDSCL Special Officer S H Naregal said twin cities have been included in the 10-lakh-plus population category, where it had to compete with cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai. The majority of those cities are metropolitans with greater infrastructure and internet penetration.
He added that at present twin cities do not have a zoo, bigger gardens, recreation parks, and other tourists spots which resulted in a poorer EOL ranking.