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4 years for the reason that procurement of 1.5 lakh digital voting machines (EVMs) began, the Election Fee has lastly realised that such machines want correct storage and common upkeep – solely after quantity have already gone out of order.
With no finances for renting storage areas, round 70,000 EVMs at the moment are saved in numerous upazila and district election places of work with no guards, no CCTV surveillance and no common upkeep. The remaining 80,000 EVMs have been saved within the warehouse of Bangladesh Machine Instruments Manufacturing unit at a hire of Tk97.5 lakh monthly.
In election occasions, EVMs are checked frequently by engineers, however after the elections are over, they lie neglected as a result of there isn’t a manpower, say related sources.
The federal government procured the EVMs at Tk2.34 lakh every below a five-year undertaking price Tk3,825 crore taken up in 2018 – totalling an expense of greater than Tk3,500 crore. The undertaking tenure will finish in June 2023.
The voting machines at the moment are going out of order mendacity in upazila places of work with no common upkeep.
For instance, all 1,063 EVMs which might be saved in upazila election places of work of Feni have already change into out of order as there isn’t a common verify up, an official searching for anonymity at Feni district election workplace instructed The Enterprise Normal.
Care will not be being taken to correctly retailer the EVMs that require particular temperature and air flow, he famous.
EVMs are being saved in related circumstances everywhere in the nation, the official added.
“We now have already knowledgeable Election Fee officers in Dhaka of the scenario. They’ve permitted us to hire a cupboard space,” he additionally mentioned.
However no warehouse or organisation participated in a young they’d floated for storing EVMs, he famous.
One other election officer on the Barishal district workplace instructed TBS that an initiative has been taken to hire a district-level storeroom.
They’ve additionally despatched a proposal to the Election Fee, requesting that Ansar males be deployed for the safety of EVMs in non-election durations, he mentioned.
There are 1,500 EVMs in 10 upazila election places of work in Barishal and extra will come from Dhaka, the official added.
Stating that EVMs undergo checks solely earlier than going to polling cubicles, he mentioned it isn’t completed in non-election occasions due to the manpower disaster.
Based on Election Fee sources, 2,535 EVMs have been procured at an expense of Tk49 crore in 2018 earlier than the undertaking was taken later in the identical yr. However all have now gone out of order.
The fee hopes that they are going to be capable of reuse the machines after repairs.
Election Fee Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandaker has not too long ago directed the formation of a five-member committee headed by EC System Supervisor Rafiqul Haque to evaluate the operational functionality and chance of re-using these EVMs.
Former election commissioner Brigadier Common (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain mentioned EVMs are usually not being saved the correct means.
“We see such delicate digital machines are saved both in basements or in common rooms or in damp locations inflicting injury which is finally a waste of public cash,” he additionally mentioned.
There are particular procedures for upkeep – temperature and humidity points must be considered, Sakhawat Hossain added.
“I’ve come to know that there’s a plan to hire warehouses to retailer EVMs. However now we have to concentrate on the truth that such machines can’t be saved in regular storage areas,” he identified.
So, there’s a want for hiring a marketing consultant to get an concept about how one can retailer EVMs, he mentioned.
Dr ABM Harun-Ur-Rashid, professor at Division of Electrical and Digital Engineering of Buet, mentioned EVMs must be saved in a managed temperature air-conditioned room, in any other case, there’s a threat of injury to those machines.
In addition to, these machines must be preserved via improved packaging so that they final for a lot of days, he added.
How India shops EVMs in non-election durations
All accessible EVMs in an Indian district are usually saved in a warehouse, which is secured by a double lock, guarded 24/7 by safety guards, and is below CCTV surveillance as properly. In a non-election interval, EVMs can’t be moved out of the warehouse with out particular directions from the Election Fee. The primary-level verify of the EVMs by engineers is finished right here, within the presence of representatives of political events, based on a report of The Indian Specific.
EC desires to spend on EVMs upkeep from income earnings
A gathering of the Undertaking Implementation Committee, chaired by the EC secretary, on 7 June determined to allocate funds for upkeep of EVMs and enhance manpower.
At current, there are solely 13 folks engaged within the EVM undertaking and this insufficient manpower will not be ample for utilizing EVMs throughout the nation, based on assembly sources.
Ashok Kumar Debnath, extra secretary to the EC, mentioned when the EVM undertaking proposal was ready in 2017, the problem of storing EVMs didn’t get a lot consideration. At the moment, they solely thought-about centralised storage of EVMs.
Now, there can be upazila-level storage services that can be secured by guards around the clock, he famous.
The EVM procurement undertaking, which is able to come to an finish in June 2023, is not going to see any time extension. However they’ve taken measures to fulfill warehouse rents, salaries of safety guards and different bills from income earnings, he additionally mentioned.
However EVMs can be saved in districts the place requirements will be maintained, he famous.
Within the meantime, the EC can’t pay rents for its 80,000 EVMs saved within the warehouse of Bangladesh Machine Instruments Manufacturing unit as a result of there isn’t a allocation for the rents within the undertaking proposal. From June 2019 to June 2022, it has dues amounting to round Tk35 crore.
Ashok Kumar mentioned as per the settlement, they don’t seem to be alleged to pay rents to the Bangladesh Machine Instruments Manufacturing unit. The difficulty is now in dialogue.
However, if essential, they are going to pay from the income finances, he additionally mentioned.
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