Shimla has been ranked as the best city for living in the category of cities with less than 10 lakh population under Ease of Living Index (EoLI) and Municipality Performance Index (MPI) in the country, HP Urban Development minister Suresh Bhardwaj informed the state Assembly on Thursday.

Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli in a survey whose result were declared today by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs ministry.

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Bhardwaj said the award symbolizes the good governance of the BJP government and efforts made for the all round development of the state.“The efforts of the state government has resulted in crime rate going down in Himachal Pradesh and impetus is being given to strengthen roads network, water and electricity facilities and development activities across the state,” he added.

He further stated that the recognition of government’s efforts in Shimla, which had been included in Smart City project, will further encourage to work hard on improving citizen centric facilities in the capital city as well as in the entire state.

Bhardwaj said the Ease of Living Index was an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development. The survey which was conducted in 2020, provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic- ability of a city and its sustainability and resilience.

The assessment also incorporates the residents’ view on the services provided by city administration through a citizen perception survey.“The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities across five verticals which comprise of 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality. The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance,” he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) was launched as an accompaniment to the Ease of Living Index. It seeks to examine local government practice in municipalities across areas of services, finance, policy, technology and governance. It seeks to simplify and evaluate the complexities in local governance practice and promote the ethos of transparency and accountability.