Rourkela: Apprehending the difficulties they are likely to face, the Sundargarh section of the Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA) sought adequate time from the district administration to join poll duty, on Friday.
The OSSTA had written to the State Election Commission in this regard on February 9. Following this, Puri, Balasore, Bhadrak and Khurda and a few other district administrations apparently extended the poll duty joining time by a day.
According to District OSSTA secretary Santosh Nayak, teachers on election duty are a harried lot because of the hectic schedule assigned to them. He also said that the Sundargarh administration is yet to take a call on the matter.
The election commission has directed the teachers from far-flung areas to report at respective block offices by 7 am a day before the election. The teachers have been assigned to collect polling materials after necessary formalities and reach respective polling stations at distant locations by the evening. Then, arrangements like the creation of voting compartments, marking of prohibited and voting areas, display of voters’ lists, etc have to be made, reported The New Indian Express.
Each presiding officer has been tasked to sign at least 1,200 ballot papers and start voting by 7 am the next morning, Nayak said.
According to Nayak, some teachers of Bonai block have got election duty in Hemgir block more than 210 km away, while a few lady teachers of Balishankara block have been deployed at Lathikata over 135 km away.
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