Ghaziabad Is The Most Liveable City In NCR
Ghaziabad, the densely populated town in Uttar Pradesh, is the seventh-best city for public open space, says the Centre’s Ease of Living Index, which was recently released by the housing ministry.
While the city got the 46th position among 111 cities in the overall ranking, it is the fifth best city in the northern zone, second-best in the state and the best in the national capital region (NCR) in ease of living, the index shows.
The city is also ranked the best in the NCR in terms of employment and economy, ranking at 20th position, as compared to New Delhi (109th) and Gurugram (65th) .
Ghaziabad’s luxury cousin Gurgaon has stood at the 88th position in the overall ranking while Faridabad stood at the 72nd position.
The inclusive city
Ghaziabad is the most inclusive city in the country, and has been awarded the top ranking in the housing and inclusiveness category.
In the recent past, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has been working on providing formal housing to slum dwellers and taking steps to promote safe and affordable housing in the city.
While the city is coping up with the increased housing demand, the infrastructure is also being upgraded to support the rising population level.
Colour green
The city stands at the seventh position for open, recreational spaces, far better than any other city in UP. The newly developed areas are being planned to include parks in the residential zone. Though the main city areas are still densely packed, there is a little scope of makeover and improvement in the social infrastructure.
Yet to learn
While Ghaziabad is considered as the hub of some of the premier institutes and universities, the city stood at 106th position in the education category, primarily because of poor conditions of government schools. The inadequate number of teachers in schools for providing primary education and the poor teacher-student ratio indicates the situation in the city. Faridabad is the topper in this category.
Safe? Not yet
Ghaziabad is still finding it hard to shed its unsafe tag. The city has scored poorly in safety and security category due to prevalent crime rate in a city. The ineffective surveillance in public spaces, poor SOS and crime registration systems and inefficient police response mechanisms are responsible for Ghaziabad poor performance in this category. The city is ranked 84th here.