By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun 9 Apr: Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Dr BVRC Purushottam held a meeting at the Secretariat here, today, with the departments related to the conduct of the ongoing polls. During the meeting, he instructed the polling personnel and voters to ensure all necessary arrangements regarding precautionary and safety measures regarding possible bad weather or heat wave on the day of polling.
In the meeting with the departments concerned, Purushottam also stated that the Election Commission of India has issued guidelines for protection from heat wave from March to June to ensure smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha Polls.
He said that, in view of the geographical conditions of the state, and the elections being held in the first phase, all other departments including the Urban Development Department and Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan should ensure necessary arrangements for protection from heat wave in the districts of the plains. He said that especially in the three plains districts of Uttarakhand, namely Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar, necessary arrangements should be made for protection from heat wave. He directed the officers concerned to ensure proper arrangements of sheds, water, coolers, fans, etc., at the polling centres.
The CEO added that, in view of the geographical conditions of the state and as per the forecast issued by the Meteorological Department, polling personnel in the hill districts should necessarily carry warm clothes with them. Proper and adequate arrangements for beds, etc., should be ensured at the places where the poll personnel will stay.
To increase the voting percentage in the state, Purushottam directed the Director General of Health to make arrangements for dolis, etc., to carry pregnant women for polling. He asked all the departmental heads present at the meeting to organise voter awareness programmes and also to continuously follow the social media handles of Election Commission of India and CEO Uttarakhand, so that voters can be persuaded to vote as much as possible.
On this occasion, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande, Additional Secretary, Urban Development, Nitin Bhadauria, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Namami Bansal and senior officials of Meteorological Department, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan and the Health Department were also present.
