Ease of Living Index-2020: Chandigarh slips to 29th spot from fifth two years ago

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 4

The well-planned city of Chandigarh fell from fifth rank of 2018 to 29th in the Ease of Living Index-2020. It also stood distant 23rd in the Municipal Performance Index (MPI)-2020. The ranking of 111 cities was released by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs today. This was the second edition of the survey in which the MPI category was introduced.

In what came as a surprise for many, the City Beautiful could not find a place in the top 20 cities of the country in both categories.

Out of the total 100 marks, the city scored overall 54.40 in the Ease of Living Index. While in 2018, it had got a marginally less marks (53.16). Of its four components, the city performed badly in ‘Citizen Perception (35th rank)’ and ‘Economic Ability (34th rank)’.

The first round of the survey, which was conducted in 2018, comprised four components, namely institutional, social, economic and physical, and Chandigarh was among the top 10 cities with the overall rank of five. Under various components of the survey, the city had stood first in the economic, fourth in social and physical and 40th in the institutional sub-indices.

“In the Ease of Living Index, the city’s national ranking is far below than the residents’ expectations. In north India, under 1 million plus cities category, Ludhiana, Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur scored more than Chandigarh,” said Vinod Vashisht, convener, City Forum of Residents Welfare Organisations.

“With the score of 54.40, the effective ranking of Chandigarh is 45th in the country in the combined list of below million and million plus cities. In the last ranking, Chandigarh was overall fifth. It is a matter of serious introspection for Chandigarh Smart City Ltd and the UT Administration,” he added.

“It is very unfortunate that the city is placed so below. It is due to the misgovernance of the BJP-ruled MC,” alleged city Congress chief spokesperson HS Lucky.

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