The Trinamool Congress has stepped up its campaign against the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll following the alleged suicide of a 48-year-old booth-level officer (BLO) in Siliguri.
Shravan Kumar Kahar, a resident of Dharmanagar in Siliguri’s ward 1, allegedly killed himself on Thursday because he was unable to cope with the SIR-related workload.
His body — found floating in the Teesta river near the Coronation bridge at Sevoke —were brought to his residence on Friday after a post-mortem examination at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.
Sanjay Tibrewal, chairman of Trinamool’s Darjeeling district (plains) committee, said the party would intensify its outreach to highlight what it described as systematic harassment during the revision process.
“We will reach out to people and expose how ‘BJP means anti-Bengal’. The SIR process is creating fear among people and putting immense pressure on officials.” he said.
“This was what forced the BLO here to take such a drastic step,” Tibrewal said after visiting the deceased’s home.
Tibrewal added that chief minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her condolences to Kahar’s family and assured them of all possible assistance.
Sanjay Pathak, the Trinamool councillor, said Kahar had recently shared with close acquaintances that he was struggling to manage the mounting work pressure.“He is survived by his wife, Sarita, and a minor son. He was under severe stress, which may have driven him to suicide. The funeral will be held on Saturday after their relatives arrive,” said Pathak.
Trinamool organised a protest meeting at Bagdogra on Friday.
State forest minister, Birbaha Hasda, Siliguri mayor, Gautam Deb, and senior party leaders attended the meeting.
“The BJP has conspired to delete people’s names from the voter list by harassing them through the SIR. This conspiracy will not succeed in Bengal,” Hasda told reporters.