Bengaluru: Ease of living, short-lived?

A city with its overstretched roads forever in repair mode, its garbage management in perennial mess, its water needs staring at another scorching summer crisis, and a power supply network ever ready to switch off. Yet, the unthinkable happens: Bengaluru grabs the ‘Most Liveable City’ crown for 2020.

Sky-rocketing from its humble 58th position in the 2018 ‘Ease of Living Index’ (EoLI), the city’s meteoric rise stumped everyone. There was nothing on the ground to justify the top slot. But a deeper analysis revealed what could have worked in Bengaluru’s favour: A higher ranking in Citizen Perception.

Citizen perception

Conducted as part of the EoLI-2020 assessment, the Citizen Perception Survey (#MyCityMyPride) gave Bengaluru the top rank among large cities, edging out the competition. The survey carried 30% of the marks for the Index, effectively compensating for Bengaluru’s poor standing in the Municipal Performance Index (MPI). The city has been ranked a lowly 31 among 51 large cities.

“I don’t know who they surveyed, who’s ease of living they judged to arrive at this ranking,” notes Vinay Srinivasa from the Bus Prayanikara Vedike. Tracking the city’s grossly inadequate public transport system for years, he wonders what changed for the better.

Public transport

The city of 1.3 crore, he reminds, lost 800 to 1,000 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses. “These old buses were decommissioned, shrinking the already low bus fleet even further. Bus schedules too have come down in the pandemic. Earlier, drivers and conductors used to work in shifts.”

The EoLI-2020 report does put Bengaluru’s public transport system on notice. “Over 60% of the cities participating in this index have scored below the national average of 28.05. Chennai emerges as the only positive outlier with a score of 79.80, followed by a significant gap by Thane (48.40) and Bengaluru (48.40).

The public transport system, the report says, is not efficient enough to support the population of the cities. Besides, “these cities may be ‘automobile dependent’ for increased mobility fostered by rapid economic growth that encourages private vehicle ownership.”

Pedestrian infrastructure

Bengaluru falters on mobility, and this includes infrastructure for pedestrians. Ongoing road works under the Smart City project have left vast stretches un-walkable. “On Infantry Road, the work has been going on since April last year. There is no footpath, and pedestrians are in dire straits like in several other parts of the city,” Srinivasa notes.

In the slums, life has been hell for months. “The working class, the marginalized, the pourakarmikas, the street vendors, cab drivers, they are happy to just survive,” he says, expressing big surprise at the city’s high ranking.

Pandemic as factor

The pandemic and the lockdowns that followed did see a dramatic shift in how people lived and worked. Urban planning expert V Ravichander feels this could be a factor in a perception change among citizens. “In the pandemic year, Bengaluru has been better equipped for Work from Home (WFH),” he explains.

The corporates, he adds, ensured that employees were equipped with laptops and decent broadband. “The basic infrastructure was given. The overall need for travel reduced and there was less visible garbage on the road. This could have changed the perception, but this is not sustainable.”

Despite its clear shortcomings on multiple fronts, Bengaluru’s top-ranking shows the huge distance that Indian cities need to cover in ensuring a life of some quality to citizens.

For instance, consider what the MPI report says on sanitation: “As per the 2011 Census, only 42 cities had over 90% of their households connected to sewerage systems. A significant population continues to remain without piped sewerage connection at their households.”

Black spots

Ease of Living is often related to what people see and experience on the streets. And the garbage black spots in Bengaluru is one definite reminder that all is not well.

“It is very problematic. Although some streamlining has happened in the backend, the service interface and the last-mile connectivity has been very poor,” points out Sandya Narayanan from the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT).

Until the entire process is streamlined and goes into auto mode, people will continue to see garbage as a problem linked closely to quality of life and ease of living. As Sandya says, “With waste, the touchpoints are so many. There is a long way to go through conscious action and engagement. Definitely, there is no ease of living now.”