Amina Nabam
(The writer is the Nodal Officer (PB) for Dibang Valley district
and is currently posted as Circle Officer, Etalin.)
In every election, we have heartwarming stories of polling teams reaching polling stations in remote areas, especially those that are inaccessible by road, and polling personnel having to walk for days together carrying the EVMs and other election materials, facing various hardships during their movement. This narrative, however, is about the postal ballots from Dibang Valley, which had to undertake a long journey to reach the CEO’s office in Itanagar for exchange with other districts.
The date of postal ballot exchange for all the districts was fixed for April 26, 2024, and they were to be brought physically by the nodal officers of postal ballots of the respective districts to Nirvachan Bhawan, Itanagar. The Dibang Valley team was scheduled to leave Anini for Itanagar on April 24th, but due to incessant rainfall and landslides along the Anini-Roing Highway, there have been road blockages since April 23rd. Many vehicles were stranded on the roads, and people had to spend the night in their vehicles. And on April 24, a major portion of the road was washed away on the Anini-Hunli road near Awali village, making any vehicular movement along the road impossible. So, the team decided to leave for Itanagar on the 25th by crossing the block point on foot and travelling onward in the reserve vehicle arranged by the returning officer on the other end of the block point.
The weather was clear and sunny on the morning of 25th April and the PB team left Anini in a cheerful mood, determined to reach Itanagar anyhow. However, after crossing Etalin they found debris, rocks, mudslides at various locations and with all communication networks down there was no way to reach the NHIDCL authorities for road clearance.
A good Samaritan named Eney Mega of Ryanli Village helped clear many minor roadblocks with his private earthmover, and the team was somehow able to reach New Anaya. On reaching New Anaya, a village 20 km from the block point at Awali village, the vehicles could not move any further as the road had been completely washed off.
Some members of the PB team, along with the District Disaster Management Officer and Circle Officer, Arzoo, decided to walk on foot to assess the situation of the road ahead and check the feasibility of transporting the PB trunks across the block point. However, it was found that the roads were washed off completely at five locations between New Anaya and Awali, in addition to several rock slides and mud slides. Therefore, keeping in mind the safety of the PB trunks, which contained postal ballots for 22 districts, the team decided to head back to Anini before the weather turned bad again.
The returning officer, upon receiving the ground report from the team, sent a message to the Chief Election Officer, Itanagar, requesting to send a helicopter for the PBs to be lifted from Anini for exchange the next day. On April 26, a special sortie was arranged for the PB team by the CEO’s office and the Department of Civil Aviation. The PB team took off from Anini at 12 PM and reached Naharlagun helipad at 3 PM, from where they were safely escorted by the Naharlagun and Itanagar Police to Nirvachan Bhawan for the exchange.
On completion of the PB exchange, the Dibang Valley team moved into the convoy with the Lower Dibang Valley PB team and were escorted up to the district boundary by the Lower Diang Valley Police. The team, under the security of the Dibang Valley Police, then moved ahead to Anini on the newly constructed temporary roads by NHIDCL and safely deposited the 61 postal ballots in the district strong room in the presence of the returning officer and representatives of contesting candidates. Thus, they ended the long journey they took for the safety of the PB trunks while risking their own.
Dibang Valley may be one of the least populated districts and we might have had the least number of PB casted. However, the measures taken by each stakeholder right from the CEO’s office to the district level in order to ensure safe transportation of the casted PB goes on to prove the importance of every single vote in electing our representatives.
Also, the cooperation received not only from various government agencies but also from private individuals during the entire movement of the team right from Anini to Itanagar and back to Anini, is in itself a statement of the fact that every organisation and individual is responsible for the successful conduct of smooth and transparent elections.
The office of the District Election Officer and the people of Dibang Valley are grateful in particular to the CEO’s office, Nodal Officers (PB), and Police Personnel of Lower Dibang Valley, NHIDCL, the Department of Civil Aviation, and our good Samaritan Shri Eney Mega for helping the team successfully accomplish the task on time when it seemed near impossible.