Correspondent
BARPETA, April 4: The Barpeta district administration has taken special care to enable persons with deformities to exercise their right to franchise without any hindrance. Accordingly, they will be picked up from home on the day of polling and will therefore be allowed to vote without standing in queue.
According to information provided by Bikash Sarma, District Information and Public Relations Officer, there are 2,607 specially-abled persons in the district out of which only 108 have availed the facility of postal ballot which was collected from house to house. The remaining 2,499 voters will vote in 940 polling stations spread over 918 locations. Out of them, 1,563 are unable to walk freely. So, Deputy Commissioner Munindra Sarma has undertaken a special scheme which ought to be beneficial for them.
As per the initiative, the persons identified by the Social Welfare Department will be carried to the polling stations vide e-rickshaw by Anganwadi workers. Those who face any trouble in accessing the station after getting off the e-rickshaw will be carried by wheel chair and will be allowed to vote directly by evading the queue. To implement the facility, 880 e-rickshaws and 680 wheel chairs have been pressed into service and have been allotted to the respective polling stations.
In the meantime, the Deputy Commissioner has appealed to all to exercise their franchise in a free and fair manner and be a part of the great democratic process.
