Kohima aims to remove tag of being ‘second most unlivable city in India’

A view of Kohima City (Morung File Photo)

•    Kohima Smart City Development Limited calls for cooperation of all stakeholders 
•    Says lack of coordination and awareness led to Kohima’s dismal ranking  

KOHIMA, JANUARY 27 (MExN): Nagaland State’s capital, Kohima, is gearing up to remove itself from its present tag of being the second most unlivable city in India. 

CEO of the Kohima Smart City Development Limited, Kovi Meyase today issued a statement calling for cooperation from all stakeholders to ensure that Kohima improves its performance in the upcoming Ease of Living Index survey. 

The State capital’s dismal showing in the 2018 report, which ranked 110th out of 111 cities on its Ease of Living index, was conducted under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India.

The first framework on ‘Ease of Living’ Index for cities was launched in June 2017 which  aims to assess the ease of living of citizens living in the cities across three pillars of Quality of Life; Economic Ability; and Sustainability, 14 categories (Education, Health, Housing & Shelter, WASH & SWM, Mobility, Safety & Security, Recreation, Economic Development, Economic Opportunities, Gini coefficient, Environment, Green spaces & Green buildings, Energy Consumption and City Resilience) and 50 indicators.

Meyase however stated that the dismal ranking of Kohima city was “not necessarily because of the lack of facilities and infrastructures but mainly because of lack of awareness among government agencies as well as citizens, lack of co-ordination between departments, lack of data in the departments and  late submission of data which delayed compilation, sorting, andfinal uploading.”

With another assessment of the city coming up, the CEO of Kohima Smart City Development Limited appealed to all the departments to give a concerted effort by providing the required data and information on time. 

In this connection, a co-ordination cum orientation programme is being organized by the Kohima Smart City for all the concerned Departments on January 29 at 11:00 am in the KMC-KSCDL Conference Hall . All the concerned departments have been asked to attend the session without fail.

The index calculated based on the data provided by cities (and validated through secondary sources) will be further validated through a citizen perception survey, which will carry 30 % weightage, Meyase informed. 

He therefore appealed to the citizens of Kohima to actively participate in the survey through the social media platforms, citizens’ app and face to face interview through random sample surveys to be conducted by the ministry.