NEW DELHI, Mar 4: Bengaluru in the category of more than one million population and Shimla in the category of less than one million population were on Thursday ranked as the most livable cities by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry’s Ease of Living Index.
The Ease of Living Index 2020, in which 111 cities participated during the assessment that included citizens’ feedback, had Bengaluru at the top followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore and Greater Mumbai in the category of cities with over one million population. In cities with less than a million population, Shimla was followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere and Tiruchirappalli.
The Ministry also released the Municipal Performance Index 2020, which rated 111 municipalities on their services, finance, policy, technology and governance. Indore topped the ranking of municipalities with over one million population, followed by Surat and Bhopal, and the New Delhi Municipal Council was the best among civic bodies with under a million population, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.
At the online launch of the indices, HUA Minister Hardeep Singh Puri raised concerns about some State governments not being as serious as others about the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission. He said the special purpose vehicles set up for the Mission in each city should be headed by the same person for the duration of the project.
(Manas Dasgupta)
