KOLKATA: For those who
turn red-faced while comparing Kolkata with other cities and criticize
it for not being clean, green and well-planned, here’s a reason for them
not to feel so low. A national survey conducted by the ASICS actually goes on to prove that when it comes to urban planning and design, the city has topped the country!

Though it will take some time for the city to beat others hands down if
you take all the parameters into consideration, the overall performance
is impressive. The annual survey on India’s city systems was conducted
across 11 cities and astounding results, which seem to challenge accepted notions, were arrived at.

There were four parameters on which the cities in question were rated on a scale of 10 – urban planning and design (UPD), urban capacities and resources UCR), empowered and legitimate political representation (ELPR) and transparency, accountability and participation
(TAP). Interestingly, Kolkata features right on top in the most
important parameter, UPD, beating usual favourites Delhi, Mumbai,
Bangalore and Hyderabad. It’s another matter that despite topping the
country, Kolkata is way behind ideal cities like New York or London.
Thus, while Kolkata has scored 4.3 in UPD, Delhi has managed to score
3.9 and Mumbai as low as 2.6. The ASICS survey explains that Kolkata has
come out as topper because it is the only city in the country to have a
metropolitan planning committee.

The city has managed to
perform pretty decently in ELPR category where it has come second,
beaten only by Jaipur. While Jaipur has scored 4.5, Kolkata has missed
the mantle just by a whisker by scoring 4.3. A legend by the surveyors
praises the city for being one of the few cities to have an independent
state election commission.

The city, however, has not been able
to score well in the other two parameters. In UCR, the city has ranked
ninth and managed to score only 2. Most cities have scored poorly in
this category, including Delhi and Mumbai that have scored marginally
better with 2.9 and 2.7.

In TAP, Kolkata has ranked somewhat
better compared to the UCR and ended up at rank seven by scoring only
2.9. Though Delhi trails Kolkata with a score of 1.2, Hyderabad is the
biggest scorer with 4.4. Mumbai and Bangalore are almost shoulder to
shoulder at 3.3 and 3. The survey clearly says that Kolkata has a poor
public disclosure law and hence this poor score when it comes to
transparency.