West Bengal BLO dies by ‘suicide’ due to SIR ‘workload’

Kolkata: A female Booth Level Officer (BLO) died, allegedly by suicide, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal, said the police on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in the Mal Bazar area of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri.

The hanging body of the female BLO was recovered from the yard of her house on Wednesday morning.

The family alleged that she decided to end her life as she could not bear the pressure of SIR work.

According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Shantimani Ekka. She is a resident of Rangamati Panchayat in Mal Bazar. She was recently given the responsibility of the SIR work.

As a BLO, she went door-to-door to distribute enumeration forms and receive the filled-out forms.

As soon as the family members discovered the body, they informed the local police station. The police went and recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy.

On receiving the news, Minister of State for Backward Classes Welfare and Tribal Development Bulu Chik Baraik went to the house of the deceased BLO. He spoke to the family members of the deceased and assured them of his support.

“This is an unfortunate incident. There is too much work pressure on the BLOs. The Election Commission must look into this. We will stand by the family of the BLO,” said the minister.

The family members of the deceased alleged that the woman was unable to handle the “heavy workload” of the SIR exercise. She started suffering from depression, they said.

Earlier this month, a female BLO died of a brain stroke due to alleged work pressure. The incident occurred in Memari in East Burdwan district.

The deceased was identified as Namita Hansda.

She was an Anganwadi worker by profession and worked as a BLO of booth number 278 of Chowk Balrampur in Memari.

The deceased’s husband, Madhav Hansda, had claimed that she was constantly under pressure to distribute enumeration forms.

She was “mentally devastated due to work pressure”, Hansda said.

IANS