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Kolkata, Nov 19 (IANS) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Election Commission over the suicide of a woman Booth Level Officer (BLO) in West Bengal, allegedly due to the workload of the Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise.
Using her social media handle, CM Banerjee claimed that around 28 people have died in the state since the Election Commission launched the SIR of Bengal’s voter list.
“Deeply shocked and saddened. Today again, we lost a booth level officer in Mall, Jalpaiguri – an Anganwadi worker who took her life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have lost their lives since the start of SIR – some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overwork,” CM Banerjee said.
The West Bengal Chief Minister also asked the Election Commission to stop this “unplanned campaign” to save lives of people in the state.
CM Banerjee said, “So many precious lives are being lost due to the unplanned, continuous workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission. The process which earlier took 3 years is now being done in 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters and put inhuman pressure on BLOs. I urge the ECI to act with prudence and stop this unplanned campaign immediately, before more lives are lost.”
Mamata Banerjee’s strong reaction came hours after the death by suicide of a woman BLO due to alleged work pressure during the SIR exercise in the state.
The incident took place in Mal Bazaar area of Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. The woman’s 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 of Mal Bazaar. He was recently given the responsibility of SIR work. Being a BLO, she was distributing enumeration forms door-to-door and collecting the filled forms.
Earlier this month, a female BLO died of brain stroke due to work pressure. The incident took place in Memari in East Burdwan district. The deceased was identified as Namita Hansda. She was an Anganwadi worker by profession. She was working on the post of BLO of booth number 278 of Chowk Balrampur, Memari. He suffered a brain stroke after a tiring day of going door to door to distribute census forms.
It is noteworthy that Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress have been highlighting alleged incidents of suicide in West Bengal due to fear of SIR.
The party has alleged that ever since the SIR was announced, people are living in terror, fearing that their names will be removed from the voter list of Bengal. Regarding this, Trinamool has targeted the Election Commission and BJP. On the other hand, BJP claimed that the ruling party in the state is spreading panic among the citizens regarding SIR.
–IANS
sh/rad