Hyderabad: Data analysts from the city say that there is a lack of clarity on what is the actually boundary of Hyderabad district.
With more than four different versions of the district’s map, people are confused as to which one is the rightly demarcated map.
A recent study by the Hyderabad Urban Labs (HUL) discovered that the National Informatics Centre had one version, the census had another one, the TS government had yet another one and then there was another version of the map as per municipal wards.
Though the agencies have clearly shown their area of jurisdiction, citizens remain confused as to which agency is responsible for what.
“It can be easily surmised that multiple overlapping jurisdictions with unclear function and resource distribution among all these agencies can lead to a very high degree of informality. It becomes extremely difficult to compare data generated by different agencies,” the study quoted.
It was also found that one map of the Hyderabad district, which is on the government-related GIS portals, is not clearly defined and areas such as Masab Tank and Punjagutta are shown as being outside the district.
“For example, after the Household Census 2011 was released, we took the Golconda sub-district map that included GHMC (M Corp) (Part) Wards 68, 69, 70 and 71.
When the sheets say ward numbers 68, 69, 70 and 71 , do they mean all of it? Or does the part in brackets mean that only a part of the GHMC wards are parts of the mandal?
This ambiguity is also found in other wards that fall in the sub-districts of Ranga Reddy and Medak district,” said a researcher from HUL.
“Clarity and transparency on the spatial boundaries of the various jurisdictions means the ability better govern and organise the urban agglomeration that houses 12 million people,” the researcher said.
