Nurses with Nipah infection shifted to Kolkata hospital, condition remains critical

One was brought to the hospital on Tuesday (January 13, 2026) night, while the other, a house staff member, was shifted from Burdwan Medical College and Hospital early Wednesday (January 14, 2026), a health department official said

In Burdwan, Yunuss in-laws have only one dua: Indo-Bangla ties must heal

At Lashkardighi a small town in Bengal thats home to Md Yunuss in-laws residents anxiously follow developments in Dhaka and Delhi amid strain in India-Bangladesh ties. Proud memories of his post-Nobel visit linger, but any mention of politics brings silence.

Rickshaw-puller attempts suicide as his name was not in 2002 electoral rolls in West Bengal

KOLKATA: A 64-year-old rickshaw-puller on Wednesday night attempted suicide, reportedly owing to depression after his name was not in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the 2002 electoral rolls in West Bengal. The incident occurred near the CCR Bridge at Belghoria Railway station in North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday night when the rickshaw-puller Ashok Sarder, a resident of Kamarhati Municipality area, jumped onto the railway track and sustained severe injury. He was rushed to the state-run R G Kar Medical College Hospital in critical condition. Ashoks family members alleged that he was suffering from depression after he couldnt find his name on the SIR in 2002, but his mothers name was there in the voter list. The spelling of his mothers name was also wrong in the last electoral roll revision list. He was desperately looking for documents so that he could include his name during the ongoing SIR process this time, and was psychologically upset, they alleged. Mamata slams ECI after one more BLO dies by suicide in West Bangal; alleges 'unbearable SIR pressure' There have been regular complaints of deaths of voters and booth-level officers (BLO) allegedly triggered by either suicides or severe cardiac arrests and cerebral attacks in Bengal since the announcement of the SIR exercise was made in the state. A female BLO who was an Anganwadi in Jalpaiguri died by suicide in Jalpaiguri district in the state, allegedly because of relentless work pressure in connection with rigorous SIR duty. The incident took place hardly 10 days after another BLO in East Burdwan on 9 November died of a cerebral attack allegedly triggered by the tremendous workload due to the ongoing electoral roll revision drive. With reports of these suicidal and normal deaths and suicide attempts, both ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition BJP got involved in attacks and counterattacks with each other for the past several weeks. Hours after the BLOs death on Wednesday, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came down heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI), saying lives are lost due to work pressure and stress generated by the SIR process in the state. She urged the commission to immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost. The saffron camp alleged that the ruling party has been spreading an atmosphere of panic among common people through regular negative campaigns against the SIR process. (If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)

BLO dies by suicide due to work pressure in WB, CM Mamata Banerjee demands ECI to halt SIR exercise

KOLKATA: A Booth Level Officer (BLO), Shanti Muni Ekka, a resident of Rangamati panchayat, died by suicide on Wednesday in West Bengal, allegedly due to tremendous work pressure in connection with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State. Hours after the BLOs death, the CM Mamata Banerjee came down heavily on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that precious lives are lost due to work pressure and stress generated by the SIR process. She urged the Commission to immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost. This incident comes hardly 10 days after a BLO in East Burdwan on 9 November died of a cerebral attack allegedly triggered by relentless work pressure during the ongoing electoral roll revision drive. Deeply shocked and saddened. Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri Smt Shanti Muni Ekka, a tribal lady, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 19, 2025 The deceased, identified as Namita Hansda, was an Anganwadi worker and had been assigned as the BLO for Booth No. 278 in Chak Balarampur, Memari. Shanti Muni Ekka was engaged as a BLO in the rural belt, committed suicide by hanging in a tree close to her residence, according to police. Her body has been sent to the police morgue for postmortem examination. Family members of the deceased alleged that she could not bear the work pressure because of rigorous duty-related distributions and collections of enumeration forms during door-to-door visits to voters. She was suffering from depression as the SIR duty became unbearable to her, they alleged. Mamata slammed the national poll body on her X handle post this afternoon, saying, Today, once again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri Smt Shanti Muni Ekka, a tribal lady, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work. 28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began some due to fear and uncertainty, others due to stress and overload. Precious lives are being lost due to the unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the so-called Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took three years is now being forced into two months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs. I urge the ECI to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost, she added. The state OBC minister, Buluchik Baraik, visited the bereaved family members of the deceased BLO.

Indian Railways starts playing Chhath songs at over 100 stations across nation

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Bihars Chhath festival, Indian Railways has introduced a unique arrangement of playing popular folk songs dedicated to the Chhath festival at over 100 prominent stations across the country. In the first phase, this initiative has been implemented at 30 different stations, where announcements of train departures or arrivals pause for a while. During these intervals, folk songs sung by well-known singers such as Sharda Sinha, Nitu Kumari Navgeet, Vindyavasni Devi and others are played when no train information is being broadcast over the automated announcement system. The Railways has started playing Chhatha songs at more than 30 stations in Bihar, including Patna, Danapur, Hajipur, Bhagalpur, Jamalpur, Sonepur and others. Similar arrangements for playing Chhatha songs have also been made at New Delhi, Ghaziabad and Anand Vihar Terminal, which are now witnessing heavy footfall of passengers travelling to Bihar and other Hindi-speaking states for the festival. Confirming this to the newspaper, ED (I&P) Dileep Kumar of the Ministry of Railways said on Friday, Indian Railways has started broadcasting Chhatha songs at railway stations on the auspicious occasion of Chhatha Puja. The aim of this initiative is to connect the passengers with the auspicious spirit of the festival and make their journey more pleasant. This has been launched at almost all those stations that now witness large numbers of Bihar-bound passengers travelling for the Chhatha festival across the country. Savita Kumari, a passenger travelling from Kolkata to Patna with her family members for the Chhatha festival, said These devotional songs being played at railway stations during Chhatha Puja surcharge the ambience of station with religious festivity for the devotees, who either remain in wait to take trains or boarding in trains. A senior railway official told the newspaper that the Chhatha folk songs being played make passengers feel the fragrance of their home and culture, thereby infusing devotion and joy into their journey even when they remain away from their states. Begun on Friday, the initiative through the automatic announcement system will continue for several days after the end of Chhatha, covering the period when passengers make their return journeys. Others stations such as Banaras, Gorakhpur and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, Burdwan, Durgapur and Asansol in West Bengal, as well as Ludhiana and Amritsar in Punjab, are among the hundreds of stations where this initiative has been introduced. Currently, Indian Railways is operating more than 12,000 special train trips to manage the surge of passengers travelling from across the country to states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the Chhatha festival is celebrated on a large scale.

Elderly woman swept away by Damodar river rescued 45 km downstream in West Bengal

KOLKATA: In what locals have described as a miraculous escape, a 65-year-old woman who was swept away by the swollen Damodar river was rescued nearly 45 km downstream in West Bengal, police said. The incident occurred at Jakta village in the Rayna area of Purba Bardhaman district, where the river was in spate following heavy rainfall and water discharge from the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) dams, a senior police officer confirmed. Maturi Tudu had gone to bathe in the Damodar river alone. She was swept away by strong currents caused by the DVC's water release and continuous rains, the officer said. With the joint efforts of police and local villagers, Tudu was found and rescued 4550 km downstream. She was initially taken to Jamalpur Rural Hospital, where doctors noted that she had fallen ill due to prolonged exposure to water. She was later shifted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital for further treatment. I went to bathe in the river on Sunday afternoon and was swept away. I somehow managed to hold onto something until villagers rescued me, Tudu recounted. Jamalpur Block Trinamool Congress president Mehemud Khan said the elderly woman was handed over to her family after police verified her identity. She survived purely by luck, he remarked.