The Hindu Business Line : Service delivery in TN

The Catalyst Trust, an NGO devoted to clean politics, good governance and citizen participation, had recently conducted, with the help of a carefully designed questionnaire, a survey of the quality of service delivery covering 26 districts and 102 panchayats/villages of Tamil Nadu in the six basic areas of primary education, primary health, public distribution system (PDS), water supply, sanitation and electricity. The sample in each case comprised roughly 650 respondents

For this purpose, it engaged the coordinators of around 250 Citizen Centres which it had set up in the State to involve citizens in efforts to instil accountability and transparency in public services. The co-ordinators were given an intensive two-day training by the Gandhigram Rural University on scientific collection of data which was supplemented by visits to the service delivery centres (primary schools, primary health centres, ration shops). The gist of the findings under each head is given below: Primary education: Overall, the level of satisfaction could be said to be average. Absenteeism among teachers was the complaint of 67 per cent of parents. The percentage of pupils taking noon meals was high at 81 per cent, but only 37 per cent were satisfied with the quality of food. Of the 238 primary schools surveyed, only 114 had their own buildings, 123 had furniture, drinking water and black-boards, 135 had libraries, 125 had electricity and144 had toilets.

Primary health centres (PHC): A majority (78 per cent) of the respondents conveyed their satisfaction with the functioning of the PHCs. At the same time, it was seen that available facilities (laboratory tests, ambulance) were idle or unavailable due to absence of manpower.

PDS: From the responses of ration-card holders and observation of the co-ordinators, it is seen that there is general satisfaction with the service. The people are vigilant in getting their individual entitlements and do not hesitate to protest against deficiencies in service.

Drinking water: Although supply as such does not pose a problem in a majority of cases, there are plenty of complaints about frequency, quantity and the unclean surroundings of public taps. Close to 60 per cent surveyed were unhappy with the repairs and maintenance staff for not being present in their work places during office hours, and in the opinion of 68 per cent, they were also unhelpful their attitude to the public.

Sanitation: Of those surveyed, 31 per cent faced problem with the drainage system, 43 per cent were satisfied with the services of the panchayat staff and 36 per cent were satisfied with the time taken by the staff to attend to problems. Of 511 respondents, 243 were satisfied with the existing drainage system, 125 with public toilets and 143 with solid waste management.

Electricity: Expectedly, disruptions in supply are the predominant causes of complaints, with only four per cent being satisfied with regular supply and the rest complaining of power cuts for varying periods (53 per cent between one and four hours, 34 per cent between four and six hours and 13 per cent beyond six ours). Altogether a constructive effort which the departments concerned should take seriously for initiating remedial action.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Offhand | Tamil Nadu

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