Kolkata, Nov 22: 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.

Mumbai: The BMC on Friday issued notices to around 59 construction sites across Mumbai under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP IV). The sites including building construction sites and RMC plants, and are located in areas of Chakala, Malad West, Mazgaon, Siddharth Nagar-Worli, Navy Nagar-Colaba and Deonar. 

“If the sites fail to comply with the air pollution control norms within seven days, all construction activities and industries the areas will be stopped. More notices will be issued as the squads conduct inspections,” a senior officer from BMC Enviornment department said.

The action comes a day after the BMC announced that GRAP IV will be implemented in the areas which consistently recorded Air Quality Index (AQI) above 200 despite mitigation measures. Additional municipal commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi said that implementation of GRAP IV is the last step, after all air pollution mitigation measures fail, and all the industries and construction activities in the areas will be stopped. 

The BMC administration informed on Thursday that it has also formed flying squads across 24 civic wards, which will ensure implementation of 28-points guidelines for air pollution control, especially at the construction sites. The squad will consist of two engineers (building factory and environment department each), a police personnel. A nuisance deterctor and a vehicle with vehicular tracking and monitoring system (VTMS) will be operational with them. 

Some of the guidelines mandatory at the construction sites include: covering with green cloth, regular water spraying, CCTV monitoring and installation of air pollution monitoring systems among others.

Mumbai, Nov 22: Indian equity benchmarks made marginal gains for the second week, supported by stronger second quarter (Q2) earnings, easing inflation and optimism around the India-US trade negotiations.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex edged higher 0.68 and 0.50 per cent during the week to close at 26,068 and 85,231, respectively.

Analysts said that a moderation in FII selling due to expectations of earnings upgrades in H2 FY26 also supported the rally. However, markets turned volatile on Friday amid weak global cues. The Nifty fell after failing to cross its previous all-time highs of 26,277, ending its two-day advance.

Broader indices underperformed, with the Nifty Midcap100 and Smallcap100 ending the week down 0.76 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Though IT stocks faced selling pressure due to weakness in the US tech shares, it was the biggest weekly gainer. Nifty Auto and Services followed as the secoral gainers during the week. On Friday, metals and realty were the worst hit, both dropping over 2 per cent, followed by PSU banks, financial services and media.

A better-than-expected non-farm payroll dimmed hopes of a US Federal Reserve rate cut in December putting pressure on global equities. Resultantly gold also witnessed selling pressure while INR declined to a new low.

The oil prices declined due to the US’s renewed push for a Russia-Ukraine peace proposal.

“The market may witness some profit booking in the near term if the pressure on Indian rupee persists. In the week ahead, investors will also have a close vigil on trade developments and economic data like IIP and Q2 FY26 GDP data to get the market direction,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited.

Analysts said that they expect markets to remain firm next week supported by buying on dips, improving demand outlook in Q3 and resilient flows.