Pune ranked second best city in country, ahead of Mumbai
Pune ranks second while Mumbai fourth among the Indian cities on various urban governance parameters in a survey conducted by the advocacy group Janaagraha Centre. Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram tops the list.
Bangalore-based Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, an advocacy group, carried out the 2016 annual survey of India’s city system in 21 cities from 18 states.
Pune received 4.2 while Mumbai scored 4.1 out of 10 on the 80 parameters that include laws rules, policies, government reports, budget documents and government websites.
Indian cities scored poorly between 2.1 to 4.4 out of 10 compared with New York (10) and London (9.4).
According to the report, most of the cities face similar and recurring issues like garbage disposal and subsequent landfills or flooding after rain.
Urban governance is directly linked to service delivery that drives quality of life in cities. Hence, the report remarks, the Indian cities require strengthening of foundations like laws, rules policies and so on.
Weak finance that leads to less investment in services, infrastructure and future is major reason.
According to the survey, city administration generates just 37% of the money. Most of their revenue goes into salaries of staff. And thus they have to depend on State and Centre government for funding for city developments.
Most of our planning laws are outdated. Except for 3 cities, all laws are from the pre liberalisation era, a time when urban India has grown several times in size. Electoral turnout is also very low.
Enactment of Public Disclosure Law and Community Participation Law, mandated under JNNURM to promote transparency and accountability, is still remaining an unfinished reform agenda. Nine cities haven’t notified either of the laws till date. No city has made available their internal audit report
Grievance redressal is another sector which scored poorly. Thiruvananthapuram is the only city that has an Ombudsman for complaints regarding service deliver. Only Hyderabad and Pune conduct citizen satisfaction surveys.
Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram tops on the urban governance parameters list. Indian cities scored poorly between 2.1 to 4.4 out of 10 compared with New York (10) and London (9.4).
Vivek Velankar, social activist and a member of Sajag Nagrik Manch, said, “Pune getting ranked second has two meanings. First is all other cities that have ranked below Pune are too bad. Also, PMC’s marketing team is promoting the city very well. The skills they used in Smart City nominations enabled them to get second rank in Smart City project. But we know city is nowhere near smart.”
Indian cities have hardly utilised the spirit of volunteering among its citizens. Only Hyderabad city has constituted Area Sabhas in all wards. Pune is the only city that allows its people to have a say in city projects through participatory budgeting.
The survey asks civic bodies for adequate skilled workforce, clear define objective plans, formulation of city’s plan by representatives, creation of digital map that will be shared by all concerned authorities among many. Kunal Kumar, commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation, despite calling several times did not respond.