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Govt officials want to be relieved of polls duty

By Staff Correspondent
Junior and mid-ranking officials of the administrative cadre came out of their Secretarial offices yesterday, met the Cabinet Secretary and made a strong plea that they.. be relieved of election duties on security grounds.
They assembled inside the Secretarial compound at about 11-30 an) and met Cabinet Secretary Ayubur Rahman at his office in a body.
The Cabinet Secretary was then in a meeting with other secretaries on the same issue.
The officers told Ayubur Rahman that they were feeling very much insecure to Sn the election duty on ursday in view of the growing violence.
While the Home Ministry cannot ensure security of the Prime Minister, how can they
hope to provide safety and security to the Junior officers on the polling day. they asked.
They also referred to a few-recent incidents in different cities and towns where some field level officers were injured in violence.
The officers also expressed ^Jeep concern at the incident in which two officers were injured in a bomb blast on Sunday at the Mohammadpur Residential Model School in the city during a training of polling officials.
The Cabinet Secretary assured them that he would take up the matter with Chief Election Commissioner Justice AKM Sadeque and convey their concern to him.
UNB adds: Meanwhile, in an open letter to the Cabinet
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Secretary the members of the civil administration urged him to advise the f hief Election Commissioner to immediately cancel the "farcical election."
The administrative officials also urged him to request the President to convene a round-table conference between the government and Opposition leaders to reach an acceptable solution.
In the open letter, they also urged the Cabinet Secretary to immediately resign from his post.
Cabinet Secretary Ayubur Rahman later went to the Election Commission and had a meeting with the EC Secretary, Ershadul Huq.
A delegation of the BCS (Admn) Association also met with Chief Election Commissioner Justice AKM Sadeque and conveyed the anxiety of the members of their association.
The CEC assured the association leaders that the authorities had taken all measures to ensure security and safety of the officials engaged in election duties.
He also asked the presiding officers and assistant premising officers to contact
their respective returning and assistant returning officers in matters relating to their movement and security.
The delegation included BCS (Admn) Association members Ataul Huq. Mohi-uddin Khan Alamglr. Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury. Nuruz-* zaman Mia and AHM Mofaz-zal Karim.
UNB adds from Chittagong: Some 300 government officials and teachers, assigned to conduct Thursday's general election, urged the authorities yesterday to relieve them of election duties because of "widespread violence".
They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner who is also the Returning Officer, urging him to relieve them of election duties.
Submission of memorandum followed an attack on an election training camp at the Muslim Hall In the city in the morning. Most of the presiding ana polling officers of the district, and the returning officer himself could not attend the training programme due to the clashes. At a press conference at the local press club, the officials said they would not join election duty on security grounds.