Gujarat BLO ‘dies by suicide’, note says ‘overburdened by SIR work’

Vadhel, a government primary school teacher at Chhara Kanya Primary School and a resident of Devali village, was found dead in his home.

In the note addressed to his wife, he directly blamed SIR duties. “For the last several days, I have been exhausted and mentally overburdened by the work of SIR… I do not have any other way but to take this last step,” he wrote.

Arvindhbai’s father Muljibhai too was a government teacher who retired around five years back. He is survived by his parents, wife and a son who is in Class VI.

On the intervening night of November 18 and 19, Rameshbhai Parmar, 50, principal of Navapura Primary School in Kapadvanj taluka of Kheda district and also a BLO, died of a heart attack at home. His family alleged that the death was due to “excessive work pressure” linked to the SIR exercise.

PSI N B Chauhan said that an Accidental Death (AD) report on Vadhel had been filed at Kodinar police station of Gir-Somnath district, and that the family had “found the suicide note from the spot”, but it was yet to be received by the police.

Education Minister Pradyuman Vaja reached Kodinar and met the deceased’s family at the Kodinar Nagarpalika office in the evening.

“After receiving the news today morning I came here and met the family and officials too. The state government is always with the family. The entire Gujarat teachers are my family and I have come here to stand by the family. Arvindbhai was a hardworking good teacher and there were no complaints against him as a BLO or as a teacher,” Vaja said after meeting the family.

The family had demanded compensation and initially also refused to receive the body. However, Vaja declined any demand by the family and assured the government is with them.

Rajubhai Vadhel (37), Arvindbhai’s cousin who himself is a government primary teacher and also working as a BLO shared the ‘unacheivable targets’ given to the BLOs. “Against the deadline of December 4 the local authorities have given us the deadline of November 23. We have been demanding to exempt us from the uploading of the form details on the BLO app which is an additional burden on us but there has been no heed to our requests,” Rajubhai Vadhel told The Indian Express.

Further adding on Arvindbhai’s alleged suicide, Rajubhai told this paper, “He was a very intelligent and sensible person. No one who knows him believes that he can take such an extreme step.”

Reacting to the latest incident, the Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh Gujarat announced a boycott of online work by teachers serving as BLOs and demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for Vadhel’s family.

“The association has submitted several representations to the government regarding excessive workload on teachers and being ill-treated. The recent Gir Somnath incident is really sad. Reading the suicide note, we can understand the kind of mental pressure on teachers for BLO work. Action should be taken against all those responsible for his death along with a compensation of Rs 1 crore to his family,” said Mitesh Bhatt, president of the association.

He added that the protest would continue if the government does not respond. “We strongly oppose the unnecessary pressure created on teachers. We also demand appointment of a nodal officer where teachers can submit complaints and representations. At the same time, we request teachers not to take any extreme step,” Bhatt said.

Nearly 50,963 BLOs are currently working across Gujarat to map 5.08 crore voters as part of the SIR, launched on November 4. Most BLOs in the state are school teachers.