To check illegal supply of liquor in the mountainous parts from the plains during the polling due on February 15, the officers of excise and income tax departments have been directed to intensify their operations in the next five days, said deputy election commissioner, Election Commission of India, Sandeep Saxena while presiding over a meeting with state officials at the Secretariat on Friday.
Saxena reviewed state’s election preparedness and also preparations going on in Dehradun district, in particular. He expressed satisfaction over the seizure of illicit liquor and the number of liquor smugglers arrested in the mountainous parts of the state.
The officers should take more steps to check the menace with the polling day drawing near, he said. He stressed on a joint team comprising the income tax department officers and police officers to conduct stringent checking drives at helipad, airport and other places.
He directed the income tax officers to bring some officers from outside the state for some days if they feel it is necessary. Saxena talked with all Dehradun general and expenditure observers and took feedback.
Transport secretary CS Napalchyal said that there is no shortage of vehicles as about 9,000 vehicles have been requisitioned for conducting election in the state.
BSNl officers were directed to conduct proper checking of connectivity again at all the polling stations. In places where there is no BSNl connectivity, an arrangement of wireless set of police or forest should be made, the election commission officer said.
Garhwal Commissioner and information secretary Vinod Sharma informed the deputy election commissioner about positive role media has been playing while adding that notice had been served in one instance of paid news. Sharma also informed the commission about all aspects of election preparedness in the Garhwal region.
While stressing that Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used for the first time in Dharmpur Vidhan Sabha constituency, Saxena asked the returning officer to give special attention on training of the officials deputed for the same. In case VVPAT becomes dysfunctional, additional VVPAT machines should be made available, he said.
State chief electoral officer Radha Raturi said that special attention would be given to facilitate senior citizens, divyang and pregnant women to reach the polling booths while stressing on the appropriate role of the police on the matter.
While reviewing security arrangements, she directed the police department officers to speed up process of depositing licensed guns.
Among others present at the high- profile meeting were nodal police officer and IG (law and order) Deepam Seth, Secretary Arvind Singh Hyanki, DS Gabayal, additional chief electoral officers V Shanmugam and Neeraj Kharwal, excise commissioner Yugal Kishore Pant, joint chief electoral officer Navneet Pandey, Dehradun DM Ravinath Raman and SSP Sweety Aggarwal.