Officials on poll duty at a polling booth at Valiyaparamba, a strip of land separated from the mainland by the Kavvayi backwater here, will rather reach there by boat with polling materials and voting machines than by road to save time.
Kayyil South Kadappuram Government L.P. School in the Valiyaparamba panchayat is booth number 159, which has a total of 335 voters, including 161 men and 174 women. A coastal strip in the Hosdurg taluk here, Valiyaraparamba is separated from the mainland by the backwaters.
Reaching the booth by road takes more time than what is required by boat. An official press release informing this here said that the election officials on poll duty and materials would reach the booth by boat.
“The Valiyaparamba panchayat is a strip between the sea and the backwater and the booth is being set up at a school at Pandiyalakkadavu in the panchayat,” the press release informed. There is presently a boat service from Ramanthali in Kannur district to Pandiyalakkadavu, it said.
Marshy land
Travel by road is not only time-consuming but it will also cause inconvenience to the officials.
If they come by road, the vehicles have to stop three km away from the booth. Walking through the marshy land carrying polling materials to reach the booth would be difficult, the officials said, adding that the boat being arranged for the officials could land at a spot close to the booth, it said.
A trip from Ramanthali to Valiyaparamba by road takes 20 km more than what it does for the travel by boat. It takes just five minutes for a boat to travel from Ramanthali to Pandiyalakkadavu. The fibre boat ferrying people can carry 25 passengers. Country boats are also ferrying people between the two places.