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The Tribune Tribune News Service

Special arrangements for special voters in Amritsar Feb 21st 2022, 00:32 Amritsar: Under project 'Sanman', youngsters escorted the needy, aged and disabled voters from their neighbourhoods to the polling booths. The District Electoral Office launched the project under which the responsibility of transporting the needy voters from their neighbourhoods to the polling booths was given to young voters. These young voters were approached and identified by BLOs. The arrangements were made for 49,249 voters above 80 years of age and 14,918 voters with special needs in the district. The details of these voters was already with the BLOs. The District Electoral Office deployed one BLO for every 150 households. These BLOs, in turn, had already collected door to door information and sought the consent of voters on the basis of which help was provided to them to bring them to the respective booths to cast their votes. Besides, the district has 30,216 voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years. These first-time voters were felicitated with appreciation certificates and their pictures were clicked at polling booths. TNS Successive governments were ignoring the plight of PwDs in governance, Budgets, employment and other fields. It shows that their plight does not figure in the priority list of governments. Leaders, irrespective of any political party, are invariably occupied in political slugfest. So, hardly leaving them anytime to spare for devising plans for the well-being of the physically challenged. Sandeep Sharma, a visually impaired voter PwD friendly infrastructure should be replicated out of the polling booth during our routine life on roads as well. Non-friendly infrastructure for the PwDs exists in the form of unstoppable traffic and haphazard parking on roads, leaving little room for the physically challenged persons to move around in markets. Besides, stray animals, too, pose danger in commuting. Mangat Ram, visually challenged voter PwDs seek similar facilities in general Amritsar: Lauding disabled-friendly infrastructure and warm treatment at polling booths, the people with disabilities (PWD) sought replicating similar support at public places as well. Chairman of Handicapped Association, Punjab, Manmohan Singh Baserke (62) (yellow turban), who completely damaged his left leg during a road accident in 1987, cast his vote at booth number 22 of Bhalla Colony. While being escorted out of the booth by BLO Sukhdev Singh, he appreciated the gesture of the Election Commission in making arrangements to bring the aged and PWDs to the polling booths. Baserke also pitched for wider recognition of PwDs in literary fields and employment opportunities. — Neeraj Bagga Cregrave;che facility 'thoughtful' Photo: Sunil Kumar Amritsar: Pink polling booths in the city piqued interest among women voters, especially due to the day-care service offered for the first time. The district had 13 pink booths though only two pink booths were set up in the city limits and 11 were in the rural belt. These booths were managed by women, with four women security personnel and five polling staff. As many as 30 anganwadi workers were put on reserve duty at each pink booth. The anganwadi workers were also in-charge of the day-care facilities set up on the polling booth premises. "We had been put on poll duty since the last one week and we set up the day-care room with toys, books and other recreational tools for children. This was also the first time that anganwadi workers were included in poll duty. So, we were happy to put in our best. We had been stationed at the booth since 6am and we have been busy throughout as we managed at least eight to 10 kids at a time," said Sukhwinder Kaur, the anganwadi worker in-charge of the day-care centre at booth 198, in Amritsar West. Those women, who exercised their right to vote at pink booths, also appreciated the move and called it a 'thoughtful' gesture from the EC. "It's very helpful for women with small kids. It becomes a task to manage kids when you have to wait for your turn in the queue," shared Sunita Kumari, a voter and a mother of a 5-year-old kid. Another voter Paramjit, who brought her two kids, aged 6 and 4 years, to the polling booth, said such changes catering to needs of women voters were encouraging. Meanwhile, Kiranpal Kaur, presiding officer of booth number 198, said: "Actually, the concept of pink booths is that it is an all-women managed booth, but in voters context there is no gender specification. We reported 35 per cent polling here till 1pm and most of the voters — both men and women — were curious about what a pink booth was." — Neha Saini Media files: 2022_2$largeimg_1171460390.jpg

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