Pune: After noteban workload, ‘tired’ bank staff kept out of election duty

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A total of 20,000 staff is required for the election duty in PMC and the civic administration had roped in staff from various government offices and banks. “We had prepared a list of 3,200 bank staff and 800 staff of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for election duty. The bank representatives, however, pointed out a Supreme Court ruling while objecting to the election duty given to them,” said Prakash Borse, deputy municipal commissioner, in-charge of deputing staff for election duty.

He said there was no clarity in the court order on whether or not to allot election duty to bank staff and hence, it was referred to the legal department that recommended to look for additional non-banking staff.

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“The bank staff has already been under stress due to demonetisation and we would not like to be blamed if the banks suffer in case their staff is roped in for election duty,” Borse said. The PMC legal department said that there was a fear that if the bank staff approach the court for clear directions, then it would create further problems.

The problems of PMC further increased with the election commission declaring polls for Pune Zilla Parishad alongwith the municipal corporations polls. “We were under the impression that the elections of municipal corporations and zilla parishads would be held separately so a list of 10,000 government staff working in rural parts of district, including ZP, was prepared for election duty in PMC,” Borse said.

PMC is exploring all possible ways to meet the requirement of election staff through government offices, he said, adding, “The civic administration has got staff from various government departments, which are considered only during emergency situations. The staff from Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Animal Husbandry department have been asked to perform election duty in PMC.”

For the first time, a large number of women employees have been roped in for election duty and given important responsibilities, Borse said. A PMC employee said, “I am visiting various government buildings to find out the offices as well as staff strength so that they can be roped in for election duty,” he said.