Essential services in Bardiya have been affected after the District Election Office mobilised government staffers, including health workers, on election assignments.

The local election body has assigned 2,600 civil servants, including the staff members of District Hospital, Primary Health Centres, Nepal Telecom and Bardiya National Park, among others, to various polling centres throughout the district. This has hurt the essential public services.

Mahendra Dhwaj Adhikari, the District Health Office (DHO) chief, said 125 health officials, including five doctors from the District Hospital, were on election assignments at the instruction of the election office.   

He added that the services at primary health centres of Rajapur, Magaragadhi and Sorahawa areas have been hit hard, owing to the election deployment.

These primary health centres cater to a large number of people from rural parts of Bardiya everyday.

Adhikari said several officers from the three primary health centres were deployed on election duties despite the DHO advising against it.    

Likewise, many technicians from the Nepal Telecom are also temporarily out of their regular jobs, for they too have been commissioned for Thursday’s elections. 

The Essential Services Operation Act, 1957, identifies telecommunication as an essential service.

With a large number of its technical staff on election assignments, the Nepal Telecom may not be able to attend to complaints regarding telephone line obstructions and other technical issues until the elections are over.   

Meanwhile, the Bardiya National Park authority is concerned over the safety of protected endangered species with several of its security staff deployed for the elections. 

A security officer at the park said incidents of wildlife poaching and timber smuggling were their top concerns at the moment. 

District Election Officer Hiranya Prasad Bhandari said without the help of agencies offering essential public services in the district, the election office would be unable to assign enough human resources to conduct the elections.

No entry for Indian vehicles

RAUTAHAT: Entry of Indian vehicles to Nepal via Gaur customs in Rautahat has been barred by the authorities in view of the Thursday’s elections. The Rautahat District Security Committee had decided to prohibit entry of Indian vehicles starting Monday morning in a meeting held on Sunday. Considering the security sensitiveness, the committee has decided to bar Indian vehicles from crossing the customs from Monday morning, Chief District Officer Uddhav Bahadur Thapa said. The committee also decided to bar the movement of vehicles with Indian number plates inside Nepali territory until the elections are over, he added. (PR)