Mumbai ranks 3rd in the Centre's liveability index

Mumbai: Mumbai has been ranked third, after Pune and Navi Mumbai, among 111 cities on the ease of living index, a list released by the ministry of housing and urban affairs on Monday. According to the report, the city scored 57.78 points as against Pune, which scored 58.11 points at the second position, while Navi Mumbai came first in India with 58.02 points. The report was prepared after surveying 111 cities in India, considering institutional, physical, social and economic standards.

According to the rankings, Mumbai did not make it to the top ten cities' list on 'institutional' and 'economic' factors.

Navi Mumbai has surpassed Mumbai on the count of 'governance'. Under the 'governance' factor, aspects like the efficiency of online services that reach citizens are noted, efficiency in tax collection, average delay in grievance redressal, capital spending, cost recovery among others, are analysed.

However, Mumbai managed to achieve the top position in the 'physical' factor, wherein infrastructure, transport, housing, solid waste management, pollution etc. are judged.

"Mumbai will get better and better with so many Metro projects at a time. In the next five to six years the city would be completely transformed with all the Metro lines operational," said R. A. Rajeev, metropolitan mommissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.      

The ease of living index is an initiative of the ministry to help cities assess their liveability vis-a- vis global and national benchmarks and encourage cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management.

The other two factors, include 'social' wherein the upkeep of historic buildings, maintenance of ecologically sensitive areas, occupancy of tourists in hotels, funds allocated in sports, education, health, safety and security etc. are gauged, and the 'economic' factor analyses the increase of trade in the city, unemployment rate, collection of professional tax etc. According to the index, Chandigarh topped in 'economic' factors while Tirupati ranked first in 'social' factor.