22 May,2016 06:43 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
The Collector’s office cuts down election duty for NBWS High School’s lab assistant and peon
Narayan Subramaniam (54) gets ready to go back to his familiar world of test tubes and beakers. Vishnu Sharma (42), the peon, too, will return to the comforting environment of NBWS school at Ghatkopar (W). Both will be relieved from the extra hours of election duty, after this paper published a report last Sunday, highlighting how they were made to give up their regular schoolwork and work full time on electoral duty, contrary to rules.
Narayan Subramaniam met mid-day at the North Bombay Welfare Society School in Ghatkopar on May 14
Last year, when Narayan and Sharma got a call to report at the district election office, they thought it would be for two days a week, as per the norm. Instead, it turned out to be a job for a whole year. The school, North Bombay Welfare Society's High School was adversely affected by their absence. Numerous letters to the District Election Officer and even the Suburban Collector, requesting that they be discharged of their duties, were ignored.
Taking note of the article which appeared in this paper, the election officer issued a fresh order on May 20, 2016, with a copy marked to the school headmaster. The document states that until further notice, both Narayan and Sharma will be working on SVEEP (Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation) plan for National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) 2016 of Election Commission of India for two days a week, and for the remaining four days, they will report for their school duty.
It also states that the election work needs to be done along with the school work, and failure to do so, will amount to action under section 32 of the Representation of People Act.
