Kolkata: A 62-year-old farmer died in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district after over five hour waiting in a queue to receive the compensation for the crop loss he suffered due to severe cyclone Bulbul that hit the state last month, a family member said.
Ganesh Naiya, a resident of Sripur panchayat, had queued up before the Joynagar-1 BDO’s office since 8 a.m. on Monday.
“My elder brother was standing in the queue just before me. It was a huge queue. After waiting for over five hours, he suddenly fell down. We took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead,” said the victim’s brother Sekhar Naiya.
Joint BDO Biplab Kumar Pal later went to the house of the deceased to console the grief-stricken family members, and promised them government help.
“We will try to give the family whatever government support we can,” Pal told the media.
Cyclone Bulbul ploughed through the Bengal coast close to Sundarban Dhanchi forest between 8.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. on November 9 before going off to Bangladesh as a weakened cyclonic storm.
According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the cyclone damaged paddy and vegetable standing crops spread over 15 lakh hectares.