‘In case of Pak shelling, staff & voters will be shifted’
Jammu, May 4: For the protection of polling staff and the voters at the polling booths closer to the Line of Control (LoC) in case of shelling from Pak side, the Election authorities in J&K have directed the district administration Poonch and Rajouri to improve the bunkers and provide all the required facilities including power supply in these bunkers before May 25, the day of polling for Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat.
Official sources told the `Excelsior’ that at least 60 bunkers along the Line of Control in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri are being cleaned and provided power supply besides other facilities for the polling staff and the voters. The bunkers of at least 20 Panchayats in district Rajouri are being used for the election purpose on the polling day while at least a dozen bunkers established in the schools closer to the fence or on that side of the fence (LoC Fencing), are being improved in district Poonch.
Sources further revealed that all these polling stations fall in the category of hyper-sensitive and the Elections teams which paid visit to these bunkers asked the concerned school staff to start cleanliness in these community or independent bunkers, falling closer to the Line of Control. The sources added that State Elections authorities are not prepared to take any risk and have directed the District Election Officers Rajouri and Poonch to start and exercise and provide all the much needed facilities in these bunkers. It has been learnt that many bunkers remained unused for long and rain water enters in many of them. In some of them, cattle and other stray animals have made them dirty with excretion activity.
As per official data about 1388 bunkers have been sanctioned in district Poonch and 1179 have been completed so far, while in district Rajouri out of the 1892 sanctioned, 1603 in seven border blocks have been completed till now. Out of them 92 are community/ large bunkers while 1511 independent.
District Election Officer (DEO), Rajouri, OP Bhagat when contacted said that in 22 villages of 20 Panchayats in seven border /LoC blocks in district Rajouri, 45 bunkers are being used for the elections purpose on May 25, the day of polling on Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat. He said most of these bunkers are located in the schools and the concerned Zonal Education Officers have been directed to ensure cleanliness and other facilities there including temporary electricity supply.
Responding to a question, the DEO said two polling stations of Sher Makri and Ser village are on that side of the fence. “All possible security measures are being taken there. Bullet proof vehicles and ambulances with medical staff will be provided there on the day of polling. All precautions will be taken against the `possible shelling’/ firing from Pakistani side. The security agencies are not prepared to take any risk against such incidents. In case of shelling, bunkers can also be used for polling,” Bhagat added.
Deputy District Election Officer, Poonch Saleem Qureshi said that at least a dozen bunkers closer to the LOC are being prepared to put in use on the day of polling on May 25. He said the polling booths will not be changed. But in case of selling the security agencies will shift polling staff and voters to the community bunkers, mostly constructed in the school premises.
The Dy DEO further said that no major such incident has occurred in the past on polling day but taking lesson from a few past experiences, the polling authorities will take all the security measures at the polling booths closer to the Line of Control. Till now, hardly 11-12 community bunkers are being getting ready in Poonch but their number may be increased within a couple of days. The teams are taking assessment of the other areas, he added.
Principal Model Higher Secondary School Sawjian, Anwar Khan where a polling booth has been established, said that there is no cease fire violation or firing incident reported in Sawjian sector of Poonch since long but during the 2019 Parliamentary elections, polling was affected due to cross border firing for some time and now to ensure the safety of voters and keeping in view that polling may not effect due to any attempt to disturb it, we have been instructed to shift the polling booth in bunker if required at the election times and we have completed the preparations for it, he maintained.–(Daily Excelsior)
