Sweltering heat claims life of poll personnel

Excessive heat claimed the life of a polling personnel at Alipurduar on Sunday. Gopi Chakraborty who was posted as a reserve polling personnel at Kumargram Assembly Constituency died after suffering a heart attack due to heat.

The doctors said that the victim suffered heart attack because of the excessive heat. He was an employee of Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad.

Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said that Chakraborty was an employee of Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad who was deployed in Alipurduar as a reserve. People in Birbhum came out of their houses despite hot and humid condition to cast their votes. The heat wave was prevailing in the district from the morning. People were seen standing in the long queue at various polling stations from the morning. The polling percentage in Birbhum stood at 82.89 per cent till 5 pm on Sunday. But in case of North Bengal districts the temperature slightly dropped than what it was in last few days. The temperature in the city also dropped a bit than the last few days but the people still felt the humid condition due to an uncomfortable weather. The Meteorological office has predicted that though the temperature within the city and its adjoining places are likely to go down by few degrees but severe heatwave is likely to prevail at isolated places over Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, West Midnapur districts of Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha in next two days. Heavy Rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Sikkim and Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, Alipurduar districts of Sub Himalayan West Bengal on Monday. Under the influence of steep pressure gradient moderate to strong Southwesterly wind-speed between 30 to 35 kmph may sweep through the coastal areas of West Bengal. Fishermen have been advised to be cautious while venturing into the sea.