BHUBANESWAR: The performance of BJD Government has remained ‘poor’ and ‘below average’ in addressing major public issues, says a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Access to drinking water, better employment opportunities and roads were the top three needs of voters across Odisha but the Government failed to meet these priorities, says Odisha Survey-2018 report, released by ADR on Tuesday.
The report indicated that drinking water was a major issue for 44.05 per cent people, while employment and better road infrastructure were the other top two issues for 41.95 per cent and 37.3 per cent people in the State.
The ADR, a forum for fighting political reforms in the country, in its ratings on a scale of 5, has given only 2.3 points to the State Government in addressing drinking water problem, 2.3 points in providing better employment opportunities and 2.28 points in ensuring better road infrastructure. It stated that performance of the present Government in these sectors remains ‘below average.’
The survey said the top priorities of voters in rural areas were availability of water for agriculture (43 per cent), drinking water (43 per cent) and better employment opportunities (41 per cent).
It, however, said the performance of the Government in addressing these issues of rural voters on a scale of 5 was only 2.48 points for water for agriculture, 2.32 points for drinking water and 2.27 points for better employment opportunities.
The survey report also stated that the Government has also under-performed in providing better health care, better road facility and electricity for agriculture in rural Odisha. The performance rating of the Government in these sectors was also below 2.5 on a scale of 5 points.
In urban Odisha, performance of the Government in addressing health care issues and water and air pollution was only 2.12 points and 2.27 points respectively, the report stated.
As many as 10,500 people in 21 Lok Sabha constituencies were surveyed by the forum in the State.