Bhubaneswar: With the Panchayat and Urban elections in the state over and the pandemic decelerating to zero prevalence, now the time has come for some action. As part of his commitment to bring in accountability and transform governance, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has once again asked his ministers to submit their report cards as early as possible. In his first Cabinet Meeting of the fifth term Chief Ministership, Naveen Patnaik had called upon all the ministers to submit report cards every month regarding the performance of the departments they head. But due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, there were delays and there were no regular submission by the ministers. But this time, Naveen has categorically asked the ministers to submit their report cards with detailed performance of the departments with regard to what are all activities undertaken, what works are pending, what are the bottlenecks, road map for the coming days, how the different schemes and programs of the Government of Odisha are being implemented, how much thrust is given on implementation of 5T Initiatives etc. An important aspect of the report card will be how many promises made in the manifesto have been fulfilled.
The report cards will play a crucial role before the performance review of the ministers by the Chief Minister. Naveen is likely to discuss with each minister regarding the report card and performance of the departments they head. The focus this time will be on the success of the minister on the given parameters.
The performance review by the Chief Minster is being seen as an exercise to evaluate the ministers and their works in this term. As the Chief Minister has not made any changes in the ministry till now during the fifth term, speculations are rife that changes can be expected on the basis of the report cards. While some experienced ministers can be handed over the party affairs, some may see changes in their portfolios.