NCC cadets won’t be put on poll duty

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">CHANDIGARH: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has turned down the request of the Haryana government to deploy the National Cadet Corps (NCC) for the smooth conduct of the Lok Sabha elections on May 10.<br /><br />As the existing force is not enough to meet the requirement of the Haryana government, the NCC directorate (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh) was asked to provide students with ''B'' certificate and above for election duties.<br /><br />In a letter forwarded by the NCC (headquarters) to the MoD, the Haryana government had asked for senior cadets for election duty with a pay of Rs 100 per day.<br /><br />In the past, NCC cadets were assigned election duty during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.<br /><br />Subsequently, the cadets were also assigned duty during the Haryana elections in February 2000, on the approval of the MoD.<br /><br />Requests made by states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and West Bengal for the state by-elections were turned down, said a MoD official.<br /><br />The ministry said that examinations were underway in many states and the students were busy preparing for same making it difficult for them to get involved in the polls.<br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />"Our cadets have helped in elections earlier but now the MoD feels that the cadets should not be deployed in volatile areas," said D S Dhillon, deputy director-general of NCC Directorate (Punjab, Haryana, HP and Chandigarh).<br /><br />"Though the NCC devotes 30 per cent of its time to community development and social service, and cadets have conducted election duty on a voluntary basis earlier, but now we don''t want to put the cadets in any kind of danger.<br /><br />It has been decided that none of the NCC cadets or any officers will be deployed for election duties," said Dhillon.<br /><br />At times, cadets have also been asked to go to remote areas on election duties for which they have been paid a paltry sum, said Dhillon.During the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, about 2,000 cadets were posted in Haryana for election duty on voluntary basis.<br /><br />They helped in the polling booths and also guided voters. However, Dhillon adds that in case, if any state is facing an acute shortage of staff for election duty, "We have set up guidelines for deployment of NCC (senior division) boy cadets."<br /><br /><formid=526372></formid=526372></div> </div>