Meghalaya's NPP government let voters down: ADR survey

The National People's Party (NPP) in Meghalaya has neglected voter priorities and performed "poorly and underwhelmingly" on almost all governance parameters, including agriculture, school education and law and order, says a report by election watchdog the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The survey, released on Wednesday, found that agriculture subsidy for seeds and fertilisers, availability of water for agriculture, and higher price realization for farm products were the top three priorities for voters. The performance of the Conrad Sangma government was rated below average in all three areas.

In rural Meghalaya, the state government scored 1.4 on a scale of 5 on agriculture subsidy for seeds and fertilisers, 1.15 on availability of water for agriculture and 1.18 on higher price realization for farm products, the report said.

"In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing electricity for agriculture (1.20 points) and better law and order/policing (1.94) in rural Meghalaya," it added.

The ADR survey, conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, also revealed that for urban voters, better roads, school education, and subsidised ration were top priorities.

"The performance of the government on urban voters' priorities of better roads (1.80 on a scale of 5), school education (1.71), and subsidised food/ration (1.4) was rated as below average. In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing drinking water (1.5) and school education (1.71) in urban Meghalaya," the survey revealed.

"The Meghalaya Survey Report 2018 points to the fact that voters' priorities in Meghalaya have largely been neglected by the government in power. This is quite clear from the fact that the government has performed poorly and underwhelmingly on all top ten governance issues as rated by the voters," it said.

--IANS

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