Karnataka   

Attachment of vehicles for election work upsets many

DAVANGERE: The district administration has commandeered a large number of private vehicles, including buses, cars and jeeps to transport electronic voting machines, election material and staff to various polling stations in the eight Assembly constituencies here.

Owners of these vehicles were taken by surprise at the sudden decision of the administration. However, they were assured by district officials that they would be suitably compensated. Traffic police personnel and officials of the Regional Transport Office had been vested with the responsibility of procuring the required number of vehicles.

Many private vehicle owners, who were surprised by the way in which their vehicles were forcibly taken away, said they would not have objected to lending them if they had been informed earlier. They said they should have been given time so that contracts for leasing out the vehicles could be formulated.

They expressed fear of losing business and reputation as the vehicles had been given out on hire to various private enterprises before the government decided to attach them.

Deputy Commissioner M.B. Dyaberi admitted that the district administration had attached their vehicles and added that owners would, however, be paid for their services. He said there were not enough vehicles with the district administration to ensure successful conduct of the elections, as it was a new district. Hence, private vehicles had to be taken away without notice.

He said over 800 buses were required to transport election material and election personnel, apart from 147 cars for sectoral officers. Another 170 cars and jeeps were required for police sectoral officers. He said he had sought provision of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses as well.

Divisional Controller of KSRTC G.R. Venkateshwara Reddy told The Hindu that the district administration had sought 750 buses, of which 101 had already been given to the Police Department to transport its personnel to polling stations. The remaining buses would be given to the district administration on Wednesday for election-related work, he added.

He said that from Wednesday, for three days, limited bus services would available to commuters.

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