Hemtabad: Residents agitated over incorrect printed SIR forms

Raiganj: Tension prevailed at Bangalbari under Hemtabad Police Station areas of North Dinajpur district on Monday after several residents alleged that they were served wrongly printed enumeration forms for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) programme. The incident has sparked concern among villagers who fear that such errors could affect their voter enrolment process.

According to local sources, the Block Level Officer (BLO) allegedly distributed forms that mentioned the wrong police station and PIN code. Agitated residents rushed to the office of the Itahar Block Development Officer (BDO) and staged a protest, demanding immediate replacement of the faulty forms.

Ismatara Khatun, a resident of Dakhinpara in Bangalbari, said: “The BLO gave us forms where ‘Raiganj’ was printed instead of ‘Hemtabad’ as the police station. Even the PIN code was incorrect.

If we use a whitener to correct these mistakes, our forms might be rejected. And if we submit them as they are, they may still be invalid. We are confused and want fresh forms.”

Responding to the issue, Biswajit Dutta, BDO of Hemtabad, said: “We have heard about the difficulties. This is a minor printing error found in a few booths. It will not cause any problem for the applicants.

The corrections will be made during the preparation of the rough draft between December 5 and 8. Residents need not worry.”