Tension prevails following gherao by polling staff

Chennai, May 5 (UNI) Tension prevailed for a while at the Ripon Building, housing Chennai Corporation, when a section of polling staff gheraoed the Corporation Commissioner and City Election Officer M P Vijayakumar today, protesting against the delay in distributing the poll duty orders for the staff members.

Official sources said the confusion started as soon as the polling officers and other election staffs, who came to the corporation office to receive their duty orders, had returned home without receiving their orders, after attending the final training programme. However, a few others waited for some time and got their duty orders, the sources added.

More than 1000 staff from various departments of State and Central Government, including Southern Railway had created a flutter, when were asked to wait for few hours due to the lack of manpower and a technical snag in the distribution process, the sources said.

When the situation went from bad to worse, Mr Vijayakumar assured that the staff will be given the orders in their respective assembly constituencies on May six. But, most of them had refused to accept the Commissioner's assurance and started gheraoing Mr Vijayakumar and other officials.

The agitated staff told the visiting newspersons that Corporation authorities failed to make the necessary arrangements.

''We are not treated well in Perambur training centre and basic facilities were not there,'' they alleged.

Moreover, the authorities asked them to come on May six, a weekly holiday, they alleged. Why should we suffer because of the mistake committed by the Election Commission and Corporation, they added.

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