Man collapses after standing outside bank for hours, dies

The Narendra Modi government’s hasty decision to demonetise high value currency notes claimed yet another life in Bengal, when a 60-year-old died on Monday afternoon after falling ill while standing 

in a queue outside a branch of a nationalised bank at Dinhata in Cooch Behar.

Police said that the victim, Dhaneswar Burma, had been standing in the queue since 3 am on Monday.

Burma had come to the bank to get some money to manage his family’s expenses. None of his family members had accompanied him and Burma had been standing for several hours 

in the cold.

“It was very cold during the time that the victim was in the queue. His family members claimed that Dhaneswar had gone to stand in the queue despite being advised by them not to.

He told his family members that he needed immediate cash or it would have been difficult to buy essential goods to run the family,” said a police officer.

The officer added that Burma fell ill around 11 am, just before he was about to enter the bank and had two or three persons ahead of him.

Local people took him to Dinhata Sub-divisional Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Doctors suspect that the victim died after suffering a cardiac arrest. Burma’s family held the hasty 

decision of the Centre responsible for the death of the 60-year-old. 

It may be recalled that the Mamata Banerjee government had given jobs to the next of kin of two persons who had died after falling ill while standing in queues outside banks.

The Bengal Chief Minister has been fighting against the Centre’s decision, which as led to the loss of around 90 lives in the entire country.

Meanwhile, tension broke out in a branch of a nationalised bank at Goalpokhar in North Dinajpur, where account holders beat up some persons who were standing in queues on behalf of some other people.

The accused somehow managed to flee.Police soon reached the spot and restored peace.