This story is from May 18, 2019

Polling booths atop Kaimur hills after 17 years

Polling booths atop Kaimur hills after 17 years
PATNA: Almost 17 years after the killing of the then Rohtas DFO Sanjay Singh by the Maoists, the Rohtas district administration has set up polling booths on the Kaimur plateau to facilitate the electors to cast their votes in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Sunday.
Altogether six booths have been set up in the villages atop the hills, once considered as hotbed of the Red rebels.
Of them, four booths have been set up at Korhas, Soli East, Soli West and Rehal. Rehal is the place from where the then DFO Sanjay Singh was kidnapped and subsequently killed by the Maoists on February 15, 2002.
The two other booths are located at Dansa and Rohtasgarh. All the booths come under the Chenaria assembly segment of the Sasaram Lok Sabha constituency from where sitting BJP MP Chhedi Paswan is locked in a neck-and-neck contest with former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress nominee Meira Kumar. Around 6,000 voters will exercise their franchise at these polling stations.
“This is the first occasion after the DFO’s murder that the polling booths have been set up atop the hills to facilitate the electorate to cast their votes. We hope the polling percentage will increase with the new arrangements,” Rohtas superintendent of police Satyaveer Singh said on Friday.
The SP said the decision to set up polling booths in the village atop the hills was taken following reports from the district police and intelligence agencies that Maoist activities were on the wane and there was no threat to the security as well as personnel.
The mukhiya (head) of Pipradih panchayat, Shyam Narayan Oraon, corroborated the SP’s statement and said hardly 10-12% voter turnout was recorded during the previous election. “Most of the residents don’t prefer to go to the foothills to exercise their franchise,” he said.

The mukhiya said earlier the villagers had to cover a distance of around 20km to reach the polling booths. “The situation has changed now as the Maoist activities are well under control. Area domination exercise was undertaken by the security personnel as part of the strategy to deal with the Maoist activities,” Oraon added.
Some locals said they had boycotted the 2014 general election due to lack of basic infrastructure in the Maoist-infested villages. “Villagers had to spend an entire day to reach the polling booth and another day to come back to their home,” said Narendra Oraon, a local.
At Rehal, CM Nitish Kumar had launched a slew of development projects. Solar plates were also installed to provide electricity to the residents.
In addition, the district administration has installed water towers in the Maoist-hit villages to supply drinking water to the residents. “We have taken all precautionary measures to ensure free and fair polls,” Rohtas DM Pankaj Dixit said.
Former Dehri sub-divisional police officer Anwar Javed Ansari had earlier submitted a detailed report to the district authorities. However, a police officer said Ashok Baitha, a close aide of dreaded Maoist leader Kameshwar Baitha, is also in the fray.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA