On one side, school classes, on the other side, SIR' work. The BLOs are caught in the grip of these two responsibilities. Raising such complaints, they came out in protest. On Monday, in the middle of training, more than a hundred Booth Level Officers joined a demonstration in front of the Malda Block Office. On Tuesday, the BLOs are set to start field work. They will go to voters' homes with enumeration forms. Most of these officials are school teachers. Their training started on November 1. The training camp was being held in the conference hall of the old Malda Block Office that day. In the midst of it, the BLOs came outside the block office and demonstrated protest. Their demand is that if they work during school hours, they should be kept 'on duty'. Survey work should be done instead of schoolwork. More than a hundred teachers from primary to higher secondary schools joined the protest. At the same time, they expressed concerns about security during field work.
Partha Sanyal, a primary school teacher from old Malda and BLO of booth number 141, said that the distance from his home to school is several kilometres. After finishing the morning school session, it gets late to return home. He has a sick father and mother. He has to look after them. After that, he has to do 'SIR' work. He said, "Our demand is that instead of school work, we should be made to do survey work during that time." Shova Bhowmik, a high school teacher from old Malda, said, "I am the BLO of booth number 36. It's five o'clock by the time I return home from school. I have household responsibilities. After finishing all that, how can I go out to do survey work at night? The administration cannot ensure security. That's why I want to do this work during school hours."
Block administration officials did not comment on this matter. Malda District Magistrate Preeti Goel also did not want to say anything about this. A district administration official said that if anyone does not perform the work assigned by the Election Commission, action will be taken as per instructions from higher authorities.
