A Block Development Officer (BDO),Neelam Sharma (45) on Friday died outside the Punjab and Haryana High Court complex. The BDO had come to the courts to represent her department in a case related to encroachment. Neelam,who was noticed fainting by some of the litigants,was taken to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) Sector 16 where she was declared dead on arrival by the doctors.
Neelam had come to the city on Friday in the morning to attend a court hearing. She was accompanied by two persons.
Harvinder Singh,a Panchayat Secretary who was accompanying her said,I went to get the entry pass made and madam was getting the translations done. It took me 10 minutes to get the pass. I came back,looked around for her and could not find her.
Failing to find Neelam,Harvinder called her on her mobile and some unknown woman took the call and asked him to come towards the gate. By the time I reached where the woman told me to,the other persons there had already called the ambulance and she was being taken to the hospital, said Harvinder.
Harvider informed the family members and the local residents reached the hospital. Neelams aunt who reached the hospital said,Neelam had been suffering from diabetes since the birth of her younger son. She was promoted to the post of BDO very recently and we had been asking her not to take the promotion as it was a high-stress job.
She added that her elder daughter was appearing for her Class XII examination and her younger son is in Class III. Neelams husband is a pathologist and is running a pathology center in Sangrur.
The body was handed over to the family after post mortem.