Orissa: Marriages deferred for Panchayat polls

Koraput, Feb 9: Hundreds of marriages have been deferred in Orissafor a fortnight for paucity of vehicles which were either booked forPanchayat election duties or obtained by Road Transport Authority forelection purpose.

According to reports, over 2000 vehicles including jeep and cars,had been requisitioned for election duties from February 13 to 21 inthe tribal dominated Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri and Rayagadadistricts.

Inspectors of Transport department were seen in action in allthese districts to procure more vehicles for the five phase Panchayatelections beginning from February 13.

This has annoyed hundreds of parents as the fortnight fromFebruary 10 to 25 has been considered as most auspicious period formarriage.

With only few vehicles left in the districts for the use of commonpeople, there has been a mad rush by the parents to grab them for themarriage ceremony.

Distressed parents have either succumbed to high fare charged bythe taxi owners or rushed to the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh andChhattishgarh.

But the tribals who can hardly afford the high price of thevehicles, were forced to postpone the marriage by a fortnight till theelections were over by end of the month.

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