When donkeys lent a helping hand to TN poll officials


Team Udayavani, Apr 18, 2019, 5:14 PM IST

Chennai: While GPS-fitted vehicles are deployed to transport poll materials like EVMs in the State, such technology or vehicles do not always help; especially when it comes to hilly terrains of Tamil Nadu to send across election paraphernalia.

Particularly, where there are no roads to reach hamlets on hill tops -leave alone motorable ones- the challenge is more pronounced and carrying EVMs, and control units within the stipulated time frame is no mean task.

A slew of such remote villages are spread across Tamil Nadu including those atop hills in the districts of Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Namakkal, and Theni with voters ranging between 300 and 1,100 in a given polling station.

Several booths in remote locations like Kottur in the Pennagaram region of Dharmapuri and hamlets on Bothamalai in Namakkal pose the challenge of rocky terrain too.

To surmount the challenge, poll officials loaded election materials -neatly packed in gunny bags- on donkeys and ponies and they carried some of the luggage on their heads to reach the designated polling stations and the ardous journey was in the range of 9 to 11 kilometers on the hills.

Vellakkevi and Pallathukadu in the Kodaikanal hill ranges (Dindigul), Kathiripatti (Erode) and Kedamalai (Namakkal) were among the hilly villages officials reached overcoming the challenges with the help of donkeys and ponies.

Also, some villages like Vellakkevi are located amid dense forests and poll officials were assisted by the anti-naxal police personnel to reach the hamlets.

Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.

Top News

Cong’s Yogeeshwara wins Channapatna Assembly bypoll by defeating Kumaraswamy’s son

Gadkari hails Mahayuti, says it prioritised development under PM’s leadership

None of Adani portfolio cos subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US

20 injured in multiple collisions in Karnataka

Poll trends in favour of Mahayuti because of Ladki Bahin scheme, says Shinde

TTD repairs finger of Lord Rama idol believed to be 1,000 years old

Sealing of illegal hotel borewells in Delhi to continue, authorities tell NGT

Related Articles More

Gadkari hails Mahayuti, says it prioritised development under PM’s leadership

Poll trends in favour of Mahayuti because of Ladki Bahin scheme, says Shinde

TTD repairs finger of Lord Rama idol believed to be 1,000 years old

Sealing of illegal hotel borewells in Delhi to continue, authorities tell NGT

Devendra Fadnavis emerges as Maharashtra’s man of the moment

MUST WATCH

Naxal Leader Vikram Gowda

Christmas Cake Fruit Mixing

DK Shivakumar

Rose Cultivation

Geethotsava


Latest Additions

Cong’s Yogeeshwara wins Channapatna Assembly bypoll by defeating Kumaraswamy’s son

Bengaluru: Woman murders her children, attempts suicide

Gadkari hails Mahayuti, says it prioritised development under PM’s leadership

None of Adani portfolio cos subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US

Congress’ Annapoorna wins Sandur Assembly bypoll in Karnataka

Thanks for visiting Udayavani

You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.