Indian cities are what cities should not be. There have been fewer initiatives at the governmental level ever since Independence to have planned urban growth. Having a ministry for housing and urban development itself meant little. Cities were mostly left to themselves in matters of housing and private entities played havoc with development. Unplanned growth created chaotic conditions. The phenomenal growth of vehicle population further messed up city life. In this context, a ranking list released by the Union Housing and Urban Development Ministry this week looks odd and laughable.
Bengaluru tops in the ease-of-living among the 49 cities with a million-plus population. Anyone who lives in or has visited Bengaluru would vouch for the fact that when it comes to transportation, it is a living hell. Most of its residential areas are unhygienic and see unplanned growth. It is often that reaching a 5-km distance would take more than two hours. The city was slow in bringing in the Metro Rail network. A mega city like Mumbai was still slower. Both cities struggled due to lack of political will to change things for the better.
Even New Delhi, one of the few planned cities, could not make movement from place to place easy by road though the Delhi Metro largely helped. Kolkata and Chennai have tackled traffic problems in their own ways, and yet the scenarios are not satisfactory.
The reason for the chaotic state of Indian cities is that governments failed to set things right. Governments would step in only after situations turn worse and beyond repair. The negligence and prevarication of the political leadership are legion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his innings seven years ago being mindful of the sad state of urban India. He started the Smart City project for urban renewal and retrofitting with a fund component of Rs 1,000 crore each for 100 select cities. The combined completion of these projects is of the order of just 11 per cent. No significant change has come about even to these cities, also as the allocated funds meant too little. It was just a drop in an ocean, also considering the leaks via political and bureaucratic corruption.
The ranking has put Shimla and Bhubaneswar on top of the less-than-million population cities in terms of ease of living. Shimla was the winter capital for the British Raj and it maintains its aura and dignity. Central Bhubaneswar is a planned city but lacks life and urge for growth. No big Indian city today can be said to be worth living; such is the chaos around.