West Bengal: Lightning kills 3 more; Abhishek Banerjee meets victims’ kin in Murshidabad

BANKURA/HOOGHLY/MURSHIDABAD: Three more persons were killed by lightning in Bankura on Tuesday evening, taking the district toll to five since Monday, even as political leaders toured various south Bengal districts to help bereaved families.
Dayamay Bhangar (32) and Monoranjan Mal (36) were waiting at a bus stop at Gaurbazar when they were hit. Both were declared dead at Indpur hospital.Magaram Garai (49) was on his way home from the field at Rajamadhabapur village in Barjora when lightning struck. He died on the spot. Bankura DM Radhika Iyer said their families would soon be compensated.
Newly appointed Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee reached Murshidabad on Wednesday afternoon and handed over compensation cheques to bereaved families. His helicopter touched down at Berhampore Stadium around 1pm after which he drove to Banjetia with food processing minister and local MLA Subrata Saha.
Banerjee visited the homes of landless labourer Prahlad Murari in Hothat Colony and Abhijit Biswas in Banjetia. Biswas’s wife Piyali, a mother of two, requested a job. Banerjee said he would speak to the CM and asked for her biodata. He later went to Raghunathpur, along with minister of state for power Akhruzzaman, and handed over compensation in cash to families of six lightning victims.
The BJP’s Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee, meanwhile, visited Polba and Singur. She was accompanied by district BJP president Gautam Chatterjee. At Nasibpur, Chatterjee met victim Susmita Koley’s family and promised aid. She also met bereaved families of Kiran Roy in Sathithan and Harun Rashid in Polba.
“All these lives could have been saved if the state government had issued a warning. The IMD issues an alert much in advance, but that information is rarely passed on,” the MP said. She added that the Prime Minister launched the compensation programme for lightning victims and now, the state government was trying to take credit for it.
Banerjee is scheduled to visit Hooghly’s Tarakeswar, Maheswarpur and Khanakul on Thursday. The district recorded the highest number of 11 lightning deaths on Monday.