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BLO in West Bengal dies by suicide; SIR work pressure alleged
A Booth Level Officer (BLO) in West Bengal's Nadia district allegedly committed suicide due to work pressure from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, blaming the Election Commission. This marks the third such death since SIR began, prompting shock from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and calls for investigation. BLOs report immense pressure from miscommunication, workload, and server issues.
Kolkata: A Booth Level Officer (BLO) allegedly committed suicide in West Bengal's Nadia district on Saturday reportedly due to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) related work pressure and blamed the Election Commission for "inhuman work pressure" in her suicide note. West Bengal-Chief Electoral Officer (WB-CEO) Manoj Agarwal has sought a report on the death of the BLO from the DEO, also the District Magistrate (DM), of Nadia district. Expressing shock over the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned how many more lives will be lost due to the SIR.
This incident comes three days after a female BLO from Jalpaiguri district's Mal Bazar committed suicide, allegedly over the same reason. This is the third death in Bengal since SIR started on November 4.
Banerjee, taking to her X Handle, wrote "Profoundly shocked to know of the death of yet another BLO, a lady para- teacher, who has committed suicide at Krishnanagar today. BLO of part number 201 of AC 82 Chapra, Smt Rinku Tarafdar, has blamed ECI in her suicide note (copy is attached herewith) before committing suicide at her residence today. How many more lives will be lost? How many more need to die for this SIR? How many more dead bodies shall we see for this process? This has become truly alarming now!!”
Banerjee has attached the photo of the BLO and her suicide note.
Union Home Minister Sukanta Majumdar said, "How many people have died due to Mamata Banerjee and who lost their jobs? The way she has brought Bangladeshis and taken benefits of Lakshmir Bhandar, will she take responsibility?"
Rinku Tarafdar, who has allegedly committed suicide, lived in the Shasthitala area of Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
According to the police, a suicide note has been recovered from deceased Rinku Tarafdar's (51) room. "I can't handle the pressure," the female BLO allegedly wrote in the suicide note, blaming the Election Commission for her death. Rinku was a para-teacher in a local school.
Husband of Rinku said that his wife was not very apt in handling the online part of the digitization and she was continuously under pressure.
Police said Rinku Tarafdar was a part-time teacher at Swami Vivekananda Vidya Mandir in Nadia's Chapra police station area.
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."
A senior officer of Krishnanagar Police District said, "The body of a female BLO was found hanging. A suicide note has been recovered. 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.
On Friday, the West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of deceased BLO Shanti Muni Ekka. Similar amount of compensation was also announced for the family of BLO Lalit Adhikari, who died in a road accident on Thursday. He was a resident of Cooch Behar district.
A Trinamool Congress Delegation meets WB-CEO
A Trinamool Congress delegation, including state ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya and Aroop Biswas, submitted a deputation.
Biswas said, "Purposely, in every booth 150-200 names have been omitted. We found this while comparing 2002 SIR with the present electoral rolls. In the hard copy of the old electoral list, these names were found. ECI and a political party are planning to delete at least 2 crore names. The EPIC card numbers and photos are kept deliberately wrong. Website is also full of mistakes. Arrangements are being made to call four out of every five voters for hearing.”
BLO forum writes letter
Votekarmi and BLO Aikya Mancha, a platform working for the BLOs, have written letters to the CEO, expressing concern over their problems.
In the letter to the CEO, the platform said that "the BLOs engaged in SIR are under tremendous pressure due to miscommunication, workload and very slow Server connected with BLO App." They have expressed concern that "the Edit option in BLO app" has been withdrawn and urged to reintroduce Edit option for the convenience of BLOs.
The letter said, "The Server connected with BLO APP runs very slow when it needs to be very fast. At midnight it runs fast, while the whole day till 12 at night it remains very slow. The BLOS are facing excessive mental strain to complete their assigned work. Please Address the Server issues."
"Different kinds of directions are coming from different EROs. This created confusion among the BLOs hindering the smooth operation of SIR. Is there any Sabotage within the administration? The BLOs can't see the updates of digitization. The BLOs are facing problems in mapping due to age mismatch. Some Electors are giving documents of others to Link with 2002 SIR," the letter said.
The compensation of dead BLOs and ailing BLOs have also been raised in the letter.
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Source: EconomicTimes
Related Posts: BLO suicide West Bengal,Election Commission work pressure,SIR work pressure,Nadia district suicide case,Rinku Tarafdar suicide note,West Bengal Government,Election Commission,eros
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