Inadequacy of security forces has caused an upswing in relocation of booths in this ongoing panchayat election all over the State and Palamu district is no exception said sources.
According to BDO Panki Sandeep Kumar Bhagat a fleet of 72 booths stand relocated in Panki alone. The BDO said the relocation has been done keeping in view the security hazard of the booth.
However he fumbled for words when asked as to why booths of Hurlong have been relocated at Mahugaiyn when in the past three elections Hurlong booth has been peaceful and trouble free.Hurlong has a 12 to 13 room well built and well managed government urdu middle school where booths were set up in the year 2010 panchayat and also in lok sabha and vidhan sabha and in all these three occasions Hurlong has remained incident free.Palamu district returning officer ( panchayat) cum DC K Srinivasan when told that the distance of the relocated booth of Hurlong at new place Mahugaiyn is around ten kilometers said the BDO and the Panki police station officer in charge submitted a joint report suggesting relocation and had cited distance as of five kilometers and as such relocation was done.
A resident of Hurlong Sannu Khan said a voter of Hurlong will have to first go to Bharree then to Sagalim and from Sagalim to Kareewa Pathar which covers a total of 10 Kms. Khan said Hurlong booth would have posed no problem at all had it not been relocated.Baisakhi Oraon a resident of Mahugaiyn said the jungle route between Hurlong and Mahugaiyn is five kilometers but he said this jungle route is fraught with dangers like wild boar attacking unsuspecting voter passing through the jungle.
Mahugaiyn residents have this fear that Hurlong voters will descend in their village andthere will be a rush of voters. Sources said the Panki BDO just did not visit Hurlong booth himself and relied on the information given by the Panki police.
Sources said the police officers are having the last word on relocation as no BDO has the courage to say no to any OC if he asks for change of venue of booth citing security reasons sources added. However Palamu administration has asked the voters to bear this inconvenience and use bikes and four wheeler to reach the relocated booth.