EC to provide Braille photo ID cards to blind voters
New Delhi, July 4: The Election Commission (EC) will provide Braille photo ID cards to visually challenged voters across the country, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat said here on Wednesday as he handed out token Braille ID cards to two persons at an event here.
The photo voter slips would also be made in accessible formats for them, he said.
Addressing the concluding session of a two-day event on inclusive elections, Rawat also announced that the Commission has decided to establish auxiliary polling stations for persons with disabilities during elections.
He said Disability Coordinators would be appointed at the levels of Assembly constituencies, districts and states.
He said a mobile app would be developed in-house for the persons with disabilities to facilitate them participate fully in the election processes.
He said that they would be permitted to avail of public transport for free along with their attendants on the day of polling.
For hearing impaired voters, sign language windows will be established in all audio-visual training and awareness contents of the commission.
Rawat announced that a new unit called Accessible Division would be established in the ECI-run International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Management in Delhi.
Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that technology has the capability to fill the gaps and it shall be explored to its fullest potential.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
