Bengaluru least liveable Indian city: Congress slams BJP govt

The Karnataka Congress on Monday came down heavily on the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government after the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual liveability index report ranked Bengaluru the lowest among Indian cities.

There are five Indian cities in the rankings that list 173 cities across the world. Delhi is placed at 140, followed by Mumbai (141), Chennai (142), Ahmedabad (143) and Bengaluru is 146th.

Cities are ranked on five broad parameters - stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

“This report is proof that the BJP government has failed to deliver in the last three years,” Karnataka Congress working president Ramalinga Reddy, a former Bengaluru affairs minister, told a news conference.

“On infrastructure, Bengaluru has scored 46.4 out of 100. This is the same as Lagos in Nigeria. Karachi in Pakistan has a better score of 51.8,” Reddy pointed out. “The government claims to have given Rs 6,000 crore to Bengaluru. If the money was spent properly, then the city wouldn’t have fallen to this level. The CM should, at least now, wake up,” he said, adding that the Cabinet has seven ministers representing Bengaluru.

Citing the EIU report, former IT minister Priyank Kharge said Bengaluru has been given the tags of ‘undesirable’, ‘intolerable’ and ‘uncomfortable’ for the prevalence of petty crimes, the threat of civil unrest, availability and quality of public healthcare, censorship, recreation, public education, quality of road network, public transport, international links, energy and water provision.

“The concept of pothole deaths is in Bengaluru alone,” Kharge said. “This government lacks three Cs - commitment, coordination and competence. The only C they want is corruption. If the government is serious on ‘Brand Bengaluru’, why isn't there a dedicated minister for the city?” he said.

Kharge said the likes of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon), Ashoka Soota (Happiest Minds), TV Mohandas Pai (Aarin Capital), Gilbert Millicent Nathan (Huawei), former chief minister SM Krishna and others have criticised Bengaluru's crumbling infrastructure.

According to Reddy, all seven ministers from Bengaluru are “simply confined” to their constituencies. “The BBMP elections are coming up. People should think about this when they vote.”