Aurangabad, March 4:
Adding yet another feather in the cap, Aurangabad jumped up a whopping 63 positions to claim 34th all India rank in the Ease of Living (EOL) Index announced by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Thursday. The city also claimed an impressive 13th rank in quality of life.
The EOL 2020 report was released by union minister of housing and urban affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday through a video conferencing. MoHUA secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, Smart Cities Mission Directors Kunal Kumar and Rahul Kapoor were present.
In forming about the ranking, Mishra said that Smart City is not merely a scheme or project but a complete change in thinking. Ease of Living Index is tool of performance evaluation that assesses ease of living in Indian cities on the basis of the provision of education, health, housing and shelter, safety and security, economic development and other urban amenities. Meanwhile, Municipal Performance Index (MPI) helps service delivery, finance management and urban development, he said.
In the rankings released , Aurangabad has received 34th overall rank in EoL, which higher than cities like Nasik, Ranchi and Jabalpur. Similarly, the quality of life in Aurangabad is better than cities like Chandigarh, Nasik, Nagpur, Pimpri Chinchwad and Jaipur. Aurangabad’s city score is 52.90, which is better than the average city score of 51.38. In the Municipal Performance Index, Aurangabad ranked 47 in cities with population of more than 10 lakh.
Responding on the ranking, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) commissioner and administrator and Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation CEO, Astik Kumar Pandey, said, it is encouraging to see the improvement in city’s ease of living ranking from last year. This shows that a lot of good work and developmental work is being put in by the AMC, Aurangabad Smart City and other agencies. If the momentum continues, we will achieve an even better rank in the next year,” mentioned Pandey.