Malda migrant laborer dies in accident in Nepal

A migrant laborer from Malda died in an accident in Nepal on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the body of Mukesh Sai, who was in his early twenties, was brought to his native village Khaspara in Nagahariya area of Englishbazar block. He worked in a company that installed cellphone towers.

His father Maizul Sai said: “On December 31, while working on a cellphone tower in Nepal, the wire tied to my son broke. He fell into a river below and died.”

He said Mukesh was the only earning person in the eight-member family.

“I am physically handicapped. My son was the sole breadwinner of our family. We have no idea how the family will survive now,” said Maizul.

Jahidul Sheikh, head of the Trinamool Congress-run Phulbaria panchayat, under which the village is located, met the bereaved family.

“It is because of the Centre’s decision to stop MNREGA funds that the youth had to risk their lives to go out and work elsewhere. The central government cannot escape its responsibility,” Sheikh said.

Local people said that due to lack of job opportunities and low salaries in Bengal, youth go to work in other states and neighboring countries like Nepal.

District BJP leader Amlan Bhaduri said. “The state government has failed to set up industries and people do not get jobs here. They hardly have any option but to flee. It is because of the lapses of the state that the Center has stopped the funds.”

body found

The torso of a woman was found in a tea garden in Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday. The police, who took the body, suspect that the woman, who would be around 50 years of age, had died 20 to 25 days ago.

“It may have been attacked by some wild animal as some leopard pugmarks were found on the body,” a police source said.