NEW DELHI
Goa got another feather in its cap when its capital city Panaji got the top honours in the Quality of Life Index among 62 smart cities across India with population below 1 million.
Panaji was also ranked 16th on the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 listing according to the index released by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. Panaji scored 62.42 to top the chart of Quality of Life Index and was closely followed by Tumkuru and Vellore.
The ranking based on other parameters is as follows -- Economic Ability (24), Citizen Perception (46), Sustainability (42). The city, however, fared badly on the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020 and was ranked at 28.
The EoLI has been carried out on four parameters of quality of life, economic ability, sustainability and citizen survey. The ‘Quality of Life’ covers aspects such as affordable housing, access to clean water, basic education, healthcare facilities, safety and security and recreation avenues.
The government said the pillar-wise scores help cities to know their level of development and identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth. This also promotes healthy competition through rankings and incentivises them to improve further and even emulate the best practices from their peer cities.
A total of 32.2 lakh people residing across 111 cities participated in a 'Citizen Perception Survey' holding a weightage of 30 per cent.
"These cities have emerged as models of development which will inspire others to perform better. Further, their peers will also benefit from emulating their best practices," Puri said.
In the 2018 'Ease of Living Index', Pune was ranked the most liveable city in the country. Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai, which held the second and the third position in 2018, have slipped to the sixth and the 10th rank respectively in the 2020 edition of the Ease of Living Index.
New Delhi Municipal Council topped the 'Municipal Performance Index 2020' in the 'less than million' population category. It was followed by Tirupati, Gandhinagar, Karnal, Salem, Tiruppur, Bilaspur, Udaipur, Jhansi and Tirunelveli. Shillong is at the bottom of this list featuring 60 municipal corporations.
