The Urban Development Ministry has commissioned one of the largest surveys of its kind to assess the quality and range of services that municipal bodies are providing to citizens across the country.

Officials said the study named 'Information and Services Need Assessment for e-Governance in Urban Local Bodies' was sanctioned last month and would form the basis of the ministry's future plans to assist municipalities across the states.

"The ministry is quite aware about the need to enhance the capacity of urban local bodies to perform and this study will help us plan better," Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna told PTI.

Krishna said an extensive survey had been planned because the needs of people and the functioning of municipalities were so varied that a smaller study would not have captured many vital details.

To carry out the study, the ministry grouped all states and Union Territories in eight zones and four different agencies were selected.

A comprehensive questionnaire has also been developed for assessment of e-readiness of the municipalities and other aspects of their functioning, official sources said.

The questionnaire has been designed to assess the IT infrastructure and services, manpower, general demographics and citizen perspectives.

The study will provide a comprehensive database of the urban local bodies and help in taking policy decisions, procedures and assessing the need of various bodies and areas for support from the Central government, they said.