Odisha government has performed ‘below average’, says election watchdog

The survey commissioned by ADR and conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, covered approximately 10,500 respondents across all 21 parliamentary constituencies of Odisha.

Election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms on Tuesday said that the Naveen Patnaik government had performed “below average” in access to drinking water, better employment opportunities and roads.

The Odisha Survey shows that drinking water (44.05 per cent), better employment opportunities (41.95 per cent) and better roads (37.30 per cent) are the top three voter priorities in the state. (HT FILE PHOTO)

“The Odisha Survey 2018 shows that drinking water (44.05 per cent), better employment opportunities (41.95 per cent) and better roads (37.30 per cent) are the top three voter priorities overall in Odisha,” the ADR said in a statement on Tuesday.

The survey commissioned by ADR and conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, covered approximately 10,500 respondents across all 21 parliamentary constituencies of Odisha. ADR said it wanted to find out voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues, and factors affecting voting behaviour.

“The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of drinking water (2.30 on a scale of 5), better employment opportunities (2.30), and better roads (2.28) were rated as Below Average,” ADR said.

The ADR survey said in rural Odisha, the topmost voters’ priorities were the availability of water for agriculture (43 per cent), drinking water (43 per cent) and better employment opportunities (41 per cent). “The performance of the government on rural voters’ priorities of availability of water for agriculture (2.48 on a scale of 5), drinking water (2.32) and better employment opportunities (2.27) was rated as Below Average,” it said.

“The performance of the government on urban voters’ priorities of drinking water (2.25 on a scale of 5), better employment opportunities (2.39), and better hospitals/primary healthcare centres (2.12) was rated as Below Average. In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing better roads (2.15) and water and on air pollution (2.27) in urban Odisha,” it said.

It also said the government had performed poorly in providing better hospitals and primary healthcare centres (2.14), better roads (2.32) and electricity for agriculture (2.45) in rural Odisha.