Faulty lifts at Ranchi collectorate put civic poll contenders in a fix

Ranchi: While candidates eager to contest the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) polls continue to throng the district collectorate to purchase nomination forms and voter lists, they are already faced with a challenge that has been a problem for quite some time now — non-functional elevators.The candidates contending for the RMC mayor’s post are compelled to climb to the fourth floor using the stairs in the B-block of the collectorate to collect their nomination forms.“After climbing to the fourth floor, you can’t even find a glass of water to drink. Although a water cooler exists on the floor, it is broken. The candidates stepped out to serve the people, but the path leading to that is not going to be an easy one,” said a mayoral candidate, on condition of anonymity.Similarly, in the A-block of the collectorate, where the nomination forms for the post of ward councillors across 53 wards under RMC are being distributed, the same situation exists.Nomination forms for wards 31 to 41 are distributed on the second floor, and 42 to 53 are distributed on the third floor, but to reach there, candidates and commoners are left with no option but to climb the stairs.Dinesh Kumar Gupta, an aspiring candidate, said, “The facilities in the collectorate building are very poor. Visitors are forced to use staircases to reach the upper floors, often while carrying bundles of documents.”Gupta added, “The collectorate, being the hub of district administration, sees thousands of people visit the office, and they are left to face the inconvenience.”Sudesh Kumar, nazarat deputy collector, said, “The lift is not non-functional, it has been kept suspended as a new lift is being installed. Within 15 days, the lift will start working, but for the time-being visitors are facing little inconvenience. As far as water facility is concerned, the building has enough water tap facilities."