Mumbai second on CII list of best cities
THE TIMES OF INDIA (March 9, 2010)
New Delhi: Mumbai is the country’s second most liveable city, next only to the national capital, while steel city Jamshedpur in Jharkhand ranks lowest in the Liveability Index 2010, prepared jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Institute for Competitiveness.
Mumbai is second in the list of 37 cities mapped on parameters like livingstandard, socio-cultural environment, education, medical standards and recreational possibilities among others. Mumbai is blessed with the healthiest socio-cultural, political environment as well as the natural environment, where Delhi comes a close second, the report said.
The Capitalranksfirst on several parametres like population density, safety, transportation, education, job opportunities and road accidents; second in housing options, socio-cultural political environment; but medical standards remains the Achilles’ heel where the national capital finds 17th place. Kozhikode, Trivandrum, Kochi and Kolkata score high on this front. This is an indication of the number of beds available per person, hours required to reach a hospital and distance between the nearest health professional.
“In overall quality of life, Delhi outscores Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Gurgaon, which take up respective ranks second to ninth,’’ the report said, adding that Faridabad, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Patna, Visakhapatnam and Jamshedpur are the last six ranked cities.
“Chandigarh is a surprising 14th, proving that a city needs much more than apparent beauty to be truly liveable,’’ it said, using data from organizations like the Centre for Monitoring of the Indian Economy.
Delhi, however, turns out to be the safest city in the country “contrary to negative press against it’’. As Gurgaon and Noida have the worst record, the report said, “Delhi could be a simple victim of devils bearing proximity’’.
In NCR, Gurgaon ranks ninth–it tops the charts on housing which is both affordable and easily available and educational facilities but lags behind due to lack of employment opportunities, high crime rate and unsafe roads and public transport. Noida ranks 27 due to improper healthcare, high crime rate, no public transport and high rate of accidents. The worst city in NCR, is Faridabad ranked 32nd.
A liveable city, according to the report, is not just an urbanised area in an urbanised region defined by the presence of a municipality. Liveability refers to an urban system that contributes to the physical, social and mental well-being and personal development of all its inhabitants, it said. “The quality of life experienced by the citizens living in a city is tied to their ability to access infrastructure, food, clean air, affordable housing, meaningful employment and green space and parks,’’ it said. Migration is another problem that Delhi is battling. TNN AND AGENCIES
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MY VIEW:
It's difficult to believe the report, as far as Mumbai is concerned. Agreed that the standard of education, medical facilities etc is high but what about its transport and infrastructure? Several experts from European countries who had come to Mumbai to find a solution to Mumbai's traffic problem have termed it as one of the world's worst planned cities which is quite true. Keeping this in mind, can this city where one might take 2 hours to travel 2 kms in peak hours, still be considered the 2nd best city in the whole of India to live in?
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