Recognizing the citizen's participation in better administration of cities, president Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Friday honored the best managed urban local bodies by presenting the “Nagar Ratna Awards “at a ceremony in Mumbai.

While the Ahmedabad municipal corporation which has caught the attention of urban planners for its bus rapid transport system won the overall best performer trophy Mysore city corporation and Pune municipal corporation followed at second and third postion respectively.

Giving the award which is instituted by the All India institute of local self government the President said “a city depends as much upon its planners and administrators as on the people dwelling in it who essentially determine its character."

Stressing on citizen's sense of waste management, energy and water conservation and protection of environment, she underlined the 'Roshni Programme' adopted at the Rashrapati Bhavan in which energy efficient ways are used. "Each person, housings societies ,NGO’s  and industry can contribute in making a positive difference to our urban habitats," she said.

With town planning  having become fully fledged discipline in colleges and institutions ,Patil called for adopting futuristic development designs for the cities keeping in mind a minimum period of 25 years and  emphasised on effective involvement of women in the urban local bodies. She asked planners to adopt environment friendly options such as bio-gas, solar and wind energy for development of effective public transportation system to overcome the problem of congestion and vehicular pollution.

President called for proper implementation and regular monitoring of special programmes like Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) for the welfare of the marginalised and disadvantaged.

Nashik municipal corporation was adjudged the best in public health services and Kalyan –Dombivili municipal corporation won the award for improvement of roads and streets.

Other award winners included Vadodara municipal corporation for basic amenities to urban poor, Bangalore for financial management, Vishakhapatnam for use of IT in governance and service delivery, Faridabad for recreational facilities, Rajkot for complaints redressal system ,Surat for innovation and Agartala for transparency and accountability.

A selection committee headed by former supreme court judge Arijit Pasayat evaluated the performance of various cities on nine different parameters. 64 cities where JNNURM is being implemented were in the reckoning for the Nagar ratna Awards.