CS chairs final stock-taking meeting for Elections 2014

Dismiss

GANGTOK, 09 Apr [IPR]: Chief Secretary AK Shrivastava today convened a meeting of senior officers to take final stock of overall election preparedness in the state. The meeting, held at the Secretariat conference hall, was also a follow up of two recent core-committee meetings chaired by the Chief Secretary on 03 and 05 April.

It may be mentioned here that the Chief Secretary has visited all the districts and a majority of the sub-divisions since he assumed office on 15 March 2014 to monitor all election-related works. The Chief Secretary has chaired over 15 meetings in connection with the General Elections 2014.

Today’s meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Home, MG Kiran, District Collector East, AK Singh, DIG Law & Order, IGP Law & Order, heads of concerned departments, representatives from BSNL, BRO, and NHPC, and other officers of the Home Department.

The Chief Secretary called upon the IPR Department to ensure timely and quick dissemination of election related news and releases. He took stock of the conditions of roads especially in North district highway, and directed the BRO to immediately halt all construction work related to road widening, and instructed for clearance of debris or any obstruction along the roads to ensure convenience to the voters. He also mentioned some areas in East District like the JN Marg to Nathula and Gnathang which needed urgent attention.

He also enquired after the condition of roads in other districts. Secretary Roads, TB Rajalim apprised that the conditions of roads, barring a few in areas like Pentong and Rorathang, were good. For some areas which came under the supervision of BRO, the CS directed the official from BRO to coordinate with the Roads and Bridges Department to ensure immediate action.

General Manager BSNL apprised about the installation of 89 web casting centres at designated establishments in the State especially for the elections. He informed that 16 more centres would be installed in the next two days which would make the total web-casting centres 105 in total. The Chief Secretary urged the BSNL to try and establish at least one or two satellite phones in Gangtok.

The CS enquired about the status of uninterrupted power supply during the elections. Secretary Power informed that the department has made all possible arrangements to ensure efficient supply of electricity and that adequate officers and staff were assigned duties at all major establishments to ensure uninterrupted power supply. The CS expressed his satisfaction at the adequacy of manpower. He however maintained that all the officers and staff should be extremely vigilant for the remaining three days to avoid any lag.

The CS instructed that basic facilities like water supply, toilets, electricity etc have to be dealt with at the local level without putting much pressure on any particular department.

In his concluding remarks, Chief Secretary called on all the officers to be highly alert to meet any untoward circumstance in the remaining few days. He maintained that the administration needs to immediately start post election reviews after the election, and also ensure that adequate arrangements are made for the counting on 16 May.