Dehradun achieved 29th rank in the Ease of Living Index 2020 (EOLI) report released recently by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). It was ranked 29th among 62 cities with less than a million population. Though the city did well in the categories like sustainability and citizen perception, it fared poorly in the categories that include economic ability and quality of life. Moreover, Dehradun got a poor 47th rank among 60 cities under the Municipal Performance Index 2020 (MPI). MPI analyses the performance of municipal bodies based on their five set functions which are services, finance, technology, planning and governance comprising 20 sectors like health, sanitation, water and waste water, registrations and permits, and human resource. From the said five sets, Dehradun has scored well only in the planning section with 53.73 scores while it performed poorly in the remaining sections with 6.79 scores in technology, 31.32 in governance, 38.92 scores in services and 48.58 scores in finance.
Talking about the ranking of Dehradun in both the EOLI and MPI reports, Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ stated that the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) took several new initiatives but certain things got delayed due to Covid-19 which affected the facilities in the city. The conditions will certainly improve this year in the city, stated the mayor. Meanwhile, independent director of Dehradun Smart City Limited, Lokesh Ohri said that the city has failed on many fronts like proper garbage disposal, plastic waste and sanitation facilities probably due to Covid-19 pandemic. However, he added that the administration is mainly focussing on infrastructural development rather than taking care of rivers, green areas and heritage which have made the whole city a big construction site which also contributes to pollution in the city. According to him, the authorities concerned should incorporate nature in the development projects in the city. Giving the example of Shimla which topped the category of the cities with less than a million population in the EOLI report, Ohri said that Shimla has worked on improving many facilities like minimal road traffic, greenery and even recognised its heritage sites and worked to preserve them. Such initiatives can also improve the condition of Dehradun in the future, he added.
Saturday, 06 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
