Unrealistic targets taking toll on BLOs, alleges SP president | Lucknow News

Lucknow: Charging the BJP government of setting unrealistic Special Intensive Revision (SIR) targets for booth level officers (BLOs), Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday described such assignments as “inhumane”. He said what was all the more surprising was that the BJP government was subjecting public servants to such a scenario for political benefits through “electoral manipulation”. Akhilesh said BLOs were being harassed no end, to the extent that they were landing in a state of extreme mental stress and described the situation as “highly condemnable and objectionable”. “First of all, the BJP did not create new job opportunities. At the same time, it has made the existing jobs so difficult and cumbersome due to unrealistic targets that people are quitting jobs out of extreme frustration,” Akhilesh said in a statement issued on Thursday. “By assigning impossible targets, the BJP government wants the BLOs to work as machines and forget about their families and homes. This is inhumane and is compelling them to either quit their jobs or risk their lives. Why should the BLOs be subjected to such a situation to shape an electoral scam for political gains of a party?” Akhilesh asked. The former UP CM appealed to the public servants deputed for SIR duty to unite and raise their voice, urging them not to take any step that could harm their families. “The Samajwadi Party stands firmly with every BLO,” he said. Akhilesh took on the BJP for holding the BLOs responsible for mistakes arising out of failures of the system, adding that deaths of officials were occurring due to the shortcomings of the BJP government and the Election Commission of India that launched the SIR in a “half-baked manner”. The SP chief charged the BJP of conspiring to end voting rights of the people by complicating the SIR process to the extent that people were unable to complete the necessary formalities. Claiming that the ‘larger conspiracy’ was to get crores of names deleted from the electoral rolls, Akhilesh said the BJP was aware of the public anger brewing among the PDA community comprising Pichhde (Backward classes), Dalits and Alpsankhyaks (Minorities) on the issue. “Members of the PDA community will respond to these designs of the BJP by voting them out of the government in the 2027 assembly polls,” Akhilesh said.SP pledges Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia to deceased BLOs Lucknow: Reiterating its demand to the Election Commission of India (ECI) of announcing a Rs 1 crore as ex-gratia for all BLOs who died during the SIR, Akhilesh Yadav announced that party will pay Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the BLOs who died during the ongoing SIR exercise.