Coimbatore, the self-made city with a population of over 10.5 lakh as per 2011 census got an overall ranking of 25 was at 38th place in housing and inclusiveness, and the textile city Tirupur at 39th place in the Ease of Living Index published by the Union Ministry of Urban Development on Monday.
Civil society activists feel that Coimbatore, a sought-after destination of many in the State and even after retirement, seems to have miles to go in reaching a satisfiable position in the ease of living index.
The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB), which provides housing facilities for various sections of people who have the capacity to buy plots, constructed houses. “We are selling housing units to different categories of the society – weaker sections, middle income group and higher income groups based on their repaying capacity in different schemes,” said an official.
However, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) building multi-storey apartments for weaker sections of people and selling it at an affordable price in different parts of the city is yet to fulfil the needs of those living in roadside huts and tiled houses in the city. “Though we build multi-storey tenements, people accustomed to live in urban areas refused to move,” a TNSCB official said.
The city ranked 53 at all India level in transportation and mobility is served by TNSTC and private operators. The TNSTC alone covering on an average of 4.75 lakh km per day. As many as 1201 buses with 1,075 services, including city and mofussil buses are operated to every nook and corner. As the city has wide roads and accessible, there is no need to operate mini buses like in Chennai, a TNSTC official here said.
However, except for buses there is no other alternative mode of public transportation available.
Thanks to the long drawn battle and endless debate over whether the city would be ideal for mass rapid transit system (MRTS), mono rail or a metro rail, none of them have materialised so far, despite smaller towns in the neighbouring state of Kerala have gone far ahead of Coimbatore.
This resulted in more private vehicles on the road resulting in congestion and accidents.
The ministry said it had ranked cities population-wise based on 78 indicators across 15 categories. The ministry has put Coimbatore in the cities with greater than 10 million but less than 40 category, giving it a score of 43.61 out of 100.
Of the four pillars of evaluation, the ministry has given the city 0.45 out of five marks in the ‘housing and inclusiveness’ category, 0.09 out of five marks in the ‘public open spaces’ category, 3.31 out of five marks in the ‘assured water supply’ category, 2.59 out of five marks in the ‘waste water management’ category and 3.46 out of five in the ‘solid waste management’ category.
Water supply
Officials in the Coimbatore Corporation said that in parameters like assured water supply, waste water management and solid waste management the city had fared well, thanks to infrastructure created under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Scheme.
But, sources said though the corporation had created infrastructure it had not made good use of those and pointed out that though the Vellalore dump yard with a waste management facility was in place, the segregated collection of waste was not as the desired level.
In ‘waste water management’ category, the corporation was yet to complete the underground drainage scheme and provide housing service connection to residents in the old 60 wards.
The officials said that the ‘Ease of Living Index 2018’ had taken the entire city into account, including the added areas where the civic amenities were not on a par with the old 60 wards. Once the corporation would extend underground drainage scheme to the added areas (40 wards) and improve drinking water distribution, the city’s rank would definitely go up.
