KOLKATA: Another Booth Level Officer (BLO) has died by suicide in West Bengal, allegedly due to work pressure and stress due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
47-year-old Hamimul Islam, who was the headmaster of a state government-aided secondary school for boys in Murshidabad district's Paikmarichar, died by suicide on Saturday. He was the BLO of the East Alaipur polling booth under the Khoribona gram panchayat.
According to police, Islam's body was found hanging from the ceiling inside the classroom of his school on Saturday evening.
Islam's family alleged that he was under tremendous pressure due to the SIR workload.
"Hamimul was under tremendous psychological pressure because of the workload and tension generated by the electoral roll revision duties. Besides his daily workload as a headmaster in the school, he could not bear the rigorous SIR jobs for the past couple of months, and as a result, he died by suicide," said Formanul Islam, elder brother of the deceased.
His body has been sent to the morgue for a postmortem, police said.
Islam's death came just days after another BLO, Samprita Chowdhury Sanyal, from Englishbazar in Malda district, passed away on January 7, due to illness, allegedly caused by SIR work pressure.
"She fell ill a few days ago and was undergoing treatment. Besides her daily routine job as an ICDS worker, she had also been working for the SIR exercise as a BLO. She could not tolerate the tremendous work pressure of the electoral roll revision process, though the concerned doctor advised her to take rest for a few days. But there was no scope for rest as she was busy with the SIR apart from the ICDS duty," said Sanyal's husband.
At least eight BLOs have so far died in the state, allegedly due to work pressure and stress due to the SIR process.
Expressing concern regarding the rising number of deaths related to the electoral roll revision exercise, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and urged the poll agency to take corrective action.
The CM claimed that the SIR has led to 77 deaths, four suicide attempts, and 17 hospitalisations, allegedly caused by fear, intimidation, and excessive workload related to the exercise.
"Though it is already very late, hope good sense prevails, and appropriate corrective actions are taken from your end to minimise the harassment, inconvenience and agony of the common citizen of the state," she wrote.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)