56% of Delhi residents approve the 1-year performance of AAP govt2.0

By Sanjeev Sharma

New Delhi, Feb 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) Fifty-six per cent residents of Delhi approve of the one year performance of AAP Delhi government2.0 but its approval rating has dipped from 68 to 56 per cent in the last 12 months.

As per a survey by LocalCircles, 56 per cent of Delhi residents approve of the 1-year performance. Of which, 12 per cent said the performance was "excellent", 12 per cent said "very good", 16 per cent said "good", and another 16 per cent said "average". There were also 14% who said "poor", 26 per cent said "very poor", while 4 per cent couldn't say.

However, the approval rating of AAP's Delhi Government dropped in comparison to last year.

When compared to last 4 years of survey results, 36 per cent of Delhi residents in 2018 approved of AAP's Delhi Government's performance, which saw a decline by 3 per cent to 35 per cent in 2019.

It, however, saw a meteoric rise to 68 per cent of Delhi residents giving a thumbs-up to AAP's Delhi Government's overall performance. Some of it was due to the fact that people appreciated the good governance work in healthcare, school education, and other areas and wanted the Government to be re-elected in the 2020 elections.

Although the year 2020 for Delhi AAP Government 2.0 has largely been about managing the COVID-19 situation in the State and the Government has done reasonably well, it has received the 56% approval rating, LocalCircles said.

Assuming Delhi doesn't experience another Covid wave, Arvind Kejriwal and his Government must now focus on taking what they have done in school education and health care to all other departments of their Government. Maximizing vaccination, boosting the Delhi economy, and ensuring a livelihood for every Delhi household will be the most immediate to dos, the survey said.

As per the LocalCircles survey, 52 per cent residents of Delhi approve of AAP Delhi Government's lockdown and unlock management, COVID-19 testing and reporting, and handling COVID-19 hospital beds respectively, during the pandemic

A 47 per cent residents found some improvement in the power supply situation; 37% found some improvement in the water supply situation; and 35% approved Delhi Government's efforts to improve air quality in the last 1 year.

A 58 per cent approved Delhi Government's management of schools and education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 43 per cent residents of Delhi had to pay a bribe to departments under Delhi Government in the last 1 year.

Every year on the anniversary of the Delhi Government's coming to power, LocalCircles is the only platform that goes back to the citizens of Delhi asking them to rate the Government's performance. This allows both the broader citizenry and the Government to understand where things stand and what needs to be worked upon.

As Arvind Kejriwal's AAP Government got re-elected again in February 2020. February 16, 2021 marks the 1-year completion of his Government. This year's survey "1 year of AAP Delhi Government 2.0" received 54,000 responses from people residing across all 11 districts of Delhi.

A 52 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's lockdown and unlock management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To better understand how Delhi residents would rate the AAP Government's management of lockdown and unlocking during the COVID-19 pandemic, 15 per cent said it was "excellent", 13 per cent said "very good", 10 per cent said "good", and 14 per cent said "average". Per aggregate responses indicated that 52 per cent of citizens approve of the Delhi Government's management of lockdown and unlock during the pandemic.

However, there were also 17 per cent of citizens in the poll who said the Delhi Government's performance was "poor", 29 per cent said "very poor", while 2 per cent couldn't say. The question in the poll received 6,618 responses from Delhi residents.

As much as 52 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's COVID-19 testing and reporting

There are currently 94 centres (29 Government-owned, and 65 privately owned) in Delhi that are collecting swab samples for RT-PCR test for COVID-19. The Delhi Government has made Covid-19 testing free of charge at government-owned hospitals, while the same test at private centres cost Rs 2,400. In order to augment the COVID testing drive, it initiated swab testing at all Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics, and also launched awareness campaigns at many levels.

To understand citizens' perception of how the Delhi Government handled COVID-19 testing and reporting, 17 per cent said it was "excellent", 8 per cent said "very good", 12 per cent said "good", and 15 per cent said "average". The survey result indicated that 52 per cent of residents of Delhi approve of their State Government's management of COVID-19 testing and reporting. Further breaking down the poll, 14 per cent said "poor", 31 per cent said "very poor", while 3 per cent couldn't say.

A 52 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's handling of COVID-19 hospital beds management

Delhi was amongst the worst states hit by COVID-19, causing an increasing burden to provide ICU beds to patients whose situation was getting aggravated due to the infection. Though the app to find beds launched by the Delhi Government had its share of issues, it did help to some degree as people could question the hospital they were at and that helped reduce hospital discretion, corruption and favouritism. The Government also got the private hospitals to allocate more beds to Covid-19 as cases increased in Delhi.

To understand how Delhi residents would rate AAP Government's management of COVID-19 hospital beds, 15 per cent said it was "excellent", 13 per cent said "very good", 12 per cent said "good", and another 12 per cent said "average". The poll result indicated that 52 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's handling of COVID-19 hospital beds management. There were also 13 per cent who rated the performance as "poor", 33 per cent said "very poor", and 2 per cent couldn't say.

A total of 58 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's management of schools and education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the poll that tried to understand how Delhi residents would rate the AAP Government's management of schools and education during the COVID-19 pandemic, 24 per cent said it has been "excellent", 12 per cent said "very good", 9 per cent said "good", and 13 per cent said "average". The aggregate responses indicated that 58 per cent residents of Delhi approve of Delhi Government's management of schools and education during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there were 13 per cent of residents who rated AAP Government's performance on handling the issue as "poor", and 27 per cent said "very poor", while 2 per cent couldn't say.

A total of 43 per cent residents of Delhi had to pay a bribe to departments under Delhi Government in the last 1 year

Corruption is often obligatory, demanding suborn in the form of cut-money or illegal commission. Even if one plays by the rules, bribery often becomes a part of the chain to get the work done. Though the year 2020 has mostly been about COVID-19, as the sectors reopened so has corruption, although there have been many developments to unearth irregularities flagged against officials of the State at various levels. It should be noted that Municipal Corporations and Delhi Police doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of AAP Delhi Government.

Water, Transport, Labour are some areas that do fall under Delhi Government and instances of corruption have been experienced by people. For example, Delhi Jal Board staff has been reported to turn a blind eye to societies who are using motor pumps to extract groundwater in the southwestern suburb of Dwarka in exchange for a set bribe, LocalCircles said.

To the question that asked Delhi residents how corruption to get work done has been under the Delhi Government in the last 1 year, excluding ones in Municipal Corporation and Police officials, 31 per cent said they "had to pay bribes several times" and 12 per cent "had to pay bribes once or twice" despite doing everything by the rules. The majority of 38 per cent of Delhi residents said they "did not pay any bribes and got work done", while 19 per cent couldn't say. Aggregate responses indicated that 43 per cent of Delhi residents had to pay a bribe to departments under Delhi Government in the last 1 year.

A total of 47 per cent residents of Delhi found some improvement in the power supply situation in the last 1 year.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has been providing free power up to 200 units every month for households, a 50 per cent subsidy on the monthly power consumption of up to 400 units, since 2015 - the move which is widely appreciated by Delhi residents. Recently the electricity regulator directed electricity distribution companies to reduce their fixed charges by half for unutilized capacity for April and May 2020 at a reduced rate of Rs 125/kVA per month, as against the existing rate of Rs 250/kVA per month. The move is expected to provide major relief to Delhi's industrial and commercial consumers hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The AAP Delhi Government maintains that 38 lakh households got zero power bills in the last billing cycle.

Now that the power demand of Delhi is fast catching up than pre-COVID levels as an increasing number of economic activities have now resumed. The survey tried to understand how citizens rated the improvement in power supply in Delhi in the last 1 year. 31 per cent said that there has been "significant improvement", while 16 per cent said "some improvement". On the other hand, there were 25 per cent of Delhi residents who said there has been "no improvement", while 20 per cent said that it has "gotten worse", while 8 per cent couldn't say. Overall, the results indicate that 47 per cent of residents of Delhi found some improvement in the power supply situation in the last 1 year.

Only 37 per cent residents of Delhi found some improvement in the water supply situation in the last 1 year

The AAP Delhi Government maintains that 14 lakh domestic consumers received zero bills for water supply in the last billing cycle. During the lockdown, however, lakhs of Delhi residents were reeling under acute water crisis, especially in South Delhi, as the demand-supply gap spiraled. As many projects, including those planned to connect areas with piped networks were stalled, the frequency of water supply by tankers drastically came down. In a bid to provide relief to residents, the Delhi Government in September 2020 offered a one-time waiver of water bill arrears and late payment surcharge till December 31 as part of a scheme it launched in August 2019.

Keeping in mind billing accuracy and quality, the question asked citizens, "How do you rate improvement in water supply in Delhi in last the 1 year?", only 37 per cent residents of Delhi found some improvement in the water supply situation. Breaking down the poll, 24 per cent said there was a "significant improvement", 13 per cent said "some improvement. There were also 28 per cent who said there has been "no improvement", while 32 per cent said it has "gotten worse", and 3 per cent couldn't say.

Only 35 per cent residents of Delhi approve of the Delhi Government's efforts in the last 1 year to improve air quality. To better understand how Delhi residents rate the efforts of Delhi Government to improve air quality in the State, 7 per cent said it was "excellent", 2 per cent said "very good", 10 per cent said "good", and 16 per cent said "average". The finding indicated that only 35 per cent of Delhi residents approve of AAP Government's efforts to improve air quality in the last 1 year. Breaking down the poll, 17 per cent said the efforts were "poor", while the majority of 47 per cent Delhi residents said "very poor", and 1 per cent couldn't say.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at sanjeev.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS