Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Medinipur, Nov 13 (IANS) Tension prevailed at the Medinipur Sadar BDO office on Thursday afternoon when booth level officers (BLOs) of Medinipur town and Sadar block expressed frustration over the increasing responsibilities of their role in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise that is being carried out to purify the voter list in West Bengal.
Frustrated with the ‘challenges’ of data entry, distribution and collection of voter forms, the BLO submitted a memorandum to BDO Kahkashan Parveen highlighting several grievances.
“I can’t do this anymore…data entry is not possible!” Many BLOs said during the protest.
According to the memorandum, the BLO expressed concern over the difficulty in handling data entry after completing their school work and assuming the responsibilities of the BLO.
Many people admitted that they are not familiar with this function, especially older BLOs who have difficulty using Android phones. He expressed fear that voters might hold him accountable as a result of errors during data entry.
BLO Sanjeev Kumar told IANS that earlier he was asked to distribute the enumeration forms and submit them. He said, now they are being asked to do data entry, which is not possible for them.
“We will not do this, our family life has become disturbed due to the pressure,” he said.
The memorandum also pointed out the immense stress caused in distributing and collecting the forms within the time limit of one month.
The BLO, who handles over 1,200 voters, demanded the appointment of assistant BLOs to reduce the workload and ensure accuracy in the process.
Further, the BLO requested to extend the December 4 deadline for submitting and verifying the enumeration forms, citing the same difficulty in checking all the details and receiving the forms as in the distribution process.
Responding to the memorandum, BDO Kahkshan Parveen said, “They had some demands and complaints. I have informed higher authorities about them. We are seriously considering the issue of giving assistant BLOs. As per the norms, they will get assistant BLOs.”
The protest comes at a crucial time as voter registration and verification processes are underway across West Bengal under Special Intensive Scrutiny (SIR).
–IANS
BRT/and