Kolkata, Nov 23 (IANS) The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal on Monday will hold a meeting with telecom operators following complaints from Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of having network issues while scanning QR codes and uploading enumeration forms as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Sources in the Election Commission said on Sunday that Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal will discuss with telecom companies regarding the website’s server problem.

BLOs have already raised several complaints regarding the workload related to the SIR process, one of which is the problem related to uploading information online. BLOs are facing network issues, sometimes due to lack of proper connectivity.

In this situation, the Election Commission has decided to address their problems. The Commission will hold a meeting among all the telecom companies to resolve this problem.

The development comes in the backdrop of a section of BLOs complaining of workload pressure due to the SIR exercise. Many said they are under tremendous pressure to upload filled-up enumeration forms online in time and for that there is a need to have proper network without any glitches.

It may be noted that two female BLOs have died by suicide allegedly due to the workload of SIR while several fell sick in the middle of the process.

On the other hand, the Election Commission has also ordered the district administration to start paying the BLOs due remuneration for SIR work from next week. In fact, suicides and heart attacks are increasing due to workload; therefore the Election Commission wants to ensure that BLOs are paid their remuneration in time to avoid giving them further stress.

Last week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the Election Commission to immediately stop the SIR process in West Bengal. According to sources, the state CEO has been instructed from Delhi to investigate the cause of the BLOs’ problems and to quickly resolve the technical problems of the website. After receiving the instructions, the CEO decided to hold a meeting with the telecom companies.

–IANS

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