School principal on SIR duty dies of heart attack in Aligarh, probe ordered

A 59-year-old primary school principal on booth-level officer (BLO) duty for the ongoing revision of electoral rolls in Aligarh district died of a heart attack, her family and education department officials said on Friday.

The deceased, Sadhna Verma, who was nearing retirement, died at her home on Thursday.

She had been deployed for the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise since it began on November 4.

Her family said she had completed all her BLO duties in Haivatpur Fagoi village in Koli tehsil within the stipulated time "without any issue". Her son, Chetan, alleged that Verma had been under "intense pressure for a long period" though not because of her BLO responsibilities.

"Her problems were not related to her work as a BLO, but due to the harassment she faced from her vice-principal and some officials of the state education department who troubled her on every possible pretext," he claimed.

He further claimed his mother had not received her salary for five months despite repeatedly following up with officials, which had caused her severe stress.

Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Rakesh Kumar said a three-member probe panel has been set up to investigate the matter.

As an initial step, the vice-principal, Pooja Choudhry, against whom allegations of indiscipline and mental harassment have been levelled, has been suspended pending the inquiry, he added.

Uttar Pradesh has witnessed multiple cases of suicides and deaths of BLOs and other officials involved in the SIR amid claims of overwork, stress and harassment during the electoral exercise undertaken to update voters' lists.

In two recent such incidents, an assistant teacher on BLO duty in Hathras district died on December 2 after he collapsed at his residence. His family alleged he had been under severe work-related stress.

On November 30, a 46-year-old BLO hanged himself at his home in Moradabad because of work pressure. He was assigned BLO duties on October 7. A suicide note was recovered in which he said there was not enough time to complete the work assigned to him.