Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Apr 14: A programme of ‘Beach Run’ organized by Dakshina Kannada district administration at Panambur beach on Sunday April 13 under Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme of the election commission did not draw response to the expected level. The ‘Beach Run’ programme, aimed at creating awareness among the electorate to exercise their franchise, did not evoke enough enthusiasm.
Sand art, play, distribution of pamphlets through aircraft etc had been arranged at the beach on Sunday. The people who had gathered at the beach in large numbers for these programmes, mostly failed to assimilate in advance the purpose of the ‘Beach Run’programme. The public address system too failed to convey the message because of strong wind and commotion created by the crowd.
District returning officer, A B Ibrahim, head of SVEEP and zilla panchayat chief executive officer, Tulasi Maddineni, district superintendent of police, Sharanappa, city corporation commissioner, Ajit Kumar Hegde Shanadi, and others participated in the programme enthusiastically. The officials, after failing to evoke enough response from the people present there for the ‘Beach Run’ programme, personally approached the people and tried to convince them to take part in the race, duly explaining the motive of the programme. Later, about 30 persons including officials and children took part in the race, which was flagged off by the superintendent of police. Prizes were distributed to winners thereafter.
In his address, district returning officer, A B Ibrahim, said that main aim of the programme was to encourage people to take part in the polling process in large numbers. The beach play and sand art, both of which were aimed at creating awareness towards the need to participating in voting process, attracted the people. Most of the pamphlets flown from a Cessna aircraft at around 6.30 pm failed to reach the hands of the gathering because of strong wind and height from which the aircraft was operated.