BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Monday issued a heatwave advisory for protecting officials and field staff from the sweltering conditions.
The advisory has been circulated to all district election officers (DEOs), collectors, electoral registration officers (EROs), assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities. The exercise is set to start from May 30.
The process will involve large-scale field activities, voter verification, enrolment camps, handling claims and objections and other elector facilitation services before publication of the final electoral roll. CEO RS Gopalan has advised officials to avoid outdoor work during peak heatwave hours between 12 pm and 3 pm.
As per the advisory, field visits and related activities are to be conducted preferably during the morning hours from 6 am to 11 am and in the evening from 4 pm to 7 pm. District authorities have also been authorised to modify timings depending on local weather conditions and heatwave intensity.
All personnel including officers have been asked to take necessary precautions while carrying out the exercise. In case of any medical emergency, immediate rest, cooling measures and healthcare assistance have been made mandatory.
The advisory also directs facilitation centres and enrolment camps to ensure shaded waiting areas, seating arrangements, ventilation and safe drinking water for voters, with special attention to senior citizens, persons with disabilities, pregnant women and other vulnerable individuals.
As per the schedule, BLOs will conduct house-to-house visits for the SIR from May 30 to June 28 for distribution and collection of forms. Accordingly, training camps for both BLOs and BLO supervisors have already been conducted across all Assembly constituencies.
The camps focused on strengthening field-level preparedness and ensuring strict adherence to official guidelines during the revision process. Officials and staff have also been asked to ensure effective implementation of the SIR activities, the CEO office stated.