BLO dies in West Bengal; suicide note cites SIR ‘workload’

Kolkata: Another Booth Level Officer (BLO) died in West Bengal on Saturday, allegedly due to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) related work pressure, said the police on Saturday.

The incident comes three days after a female BLO in the Mal Bazar area of Jalpaiguri district in Bengal died, allegedly over the same reason.

This time, a female BLO hanged herself in the Shasthitala area of Krishnanagar in Nadia district.

The deceased has been identified as Rinku Tarafdar (51). According to the police, a suicide note has been recovered from her room.

The police said the woman wrote in that suicide letter that administrative pressure would come to her if she did not complete the work of a BLO.

“I can’t handle the pressure,” the female BLO allegedly wrote in the suicide letter, according to the police.

She has also blamed the Election Commission for her death.

Police said Rinku Tarafdar was a part-time teacher at Swami Vivekananda Vidya Mandir in Nadia district’s Chapra police station area. She was working as a BLO in the Bangaljhi area.

At the same time, Rinku wrote that no one in her family was responsible for her death.

Blaming the Election Commission for her death, the BLO also wrote, “The Election Commission is responsible for my fate. I do not support any political party. I am a very ordinary person. But I cannot bear the pressure of this inhuman work. I am a part-time teacher. The salary is very low compared to the hard work. But, they did not spare me.”

A senior officer of Krishnanagar Police District said, “The body of a female BLO was found hanging. A suicide note has been recovered. She blamed the Election Commission for her death as she could not bear the pressure related to SIR work. A case of unnatural death has been registered. The body has been recovered and sent for autopsy.”

On Wednesday, a female BLO identified as Shanti Muni Ekka died by “suicide” due to alleged work pressure during the SIR exercise in the state. The incident took place in the Mal Bazar area in Jalpaiguri. The family of the woman alleged that she decided to end her life as she could not bear the pressure of SIR work.

Following the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted the Election Commission of India over the “suicide” of a female BLO.

Using her social media handles, CM Banerjee claimed that about 28 people have died in the state since the Election Commission began the SIR of Bengal’s electoral rolls.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also asked the ECI to halt this “unplanned drive” to save lives in the state.

On the same day, another female BLO named Tapati Biswas suffered a cerebral attack in the middle of SIR-related work in Hooghly district’s Konnagar area. The day after, she was relieved of her election duty following her cerebral attack.

On Friday, the West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of deceased BLO Shanti Muni Ekka in Jalpaiguri and Rs 1 lakh for BLO Tapati Biswas in Hooghly.

Meanwhile, a compensation of Rs 2 lakh was also announced for the family of BLO Lalit Adhikari, who died in a road accident on Thursday. He was a resident of the Baradham Chatragram area in the Cooch Behar district. The compensations were handed over to the families by district officials.

IANS