Maharashtra's Pune, Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai are the top three cities, while New Delhi ranks a lowly 65 in an Ease of Living Index released by the Central government here on Monday.
While four cities of Maharashtra (Thane is the sixth) are in the top 10, the national capital's ranking is a cause for concern, but not a surprise given various reasons, including extremely poor air quality.
Uttar Pradesh's Rampur has fared the worst in the 111-city survey whose findings were released by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The capital cities of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are also in the top 10. Madhya Pradesh's Indore is there, too. Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh is the only city to have made the top 10 cut, in a first-of-its-kind exercise based on four parameters — governance, social institutions, economic and physical infrastructure. Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati and Vijayawada are in the top 10, too.
Apart from the top three, the next seven cities are: Tirupati (4), Chandigarh (5), Thane (6), Raipur (7), Indore (8), Vijaywada (9) and Bhopal (10).
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka that have several big cities are not mentioned in the top 10. Chennai has been ranked 14. Three West Bengal cities — Howrah, New Town Kolkata and Durgapur — did not participate in the survey.
The four parameters were divided into 15 categories and 78 indicators. The cities were evaluated on 100-point scale.
The Ease of Living Index will push cities towards an outcome-based approach to urban planning and management.
The index also has a comparison feature that will allow users to analyse performance across cities on various liveability parameters.
The standards are linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in urban areas.
The Minister also launched a protocol for Swachh Survekshan 2019 that will focus on sustainability and encourage large-scale citizen participation and ensure progress towards garbage-free and open defecation-free cities.
