Want to end life: Govt contractor writes to Prez

A civil construction contractor from Pandalpara area in Malda district in West Bengal Jayanta Pramanik has sought permission from President Ramnath Kovind and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to die by suicide. In his letter, Pramanik states that he has waited for years to get his unpaid bills amounting to around Rs.1 crore, accrued since 2015 from the West Bengal Government.

“In 2015-16, I constructed the bungalow of the sub-divisional officer of Chanchol. Later, I carried out several other construction works at the same site. The executive engineer’s office took Rs 10 lakh from me as security deposit. The PWD office neither paid me for the work, nor has he released the security deposit.” Said Jayanta Pramanik who was a Public Works Department(PWD) executive engineer.

For the boundary wall Rs.15 lakh and Rs.5 lakh for the sanitary plumbing are also due. This including the ten year security deposit of Rs.10 lakh and other payments amounts to Rs.45 lakhs which is due from the PWD executive engineer Malda division. Pramanik’s other dues from the Chanchol subdivisional officer(SDO) for infrastructure development work done by him amounting to Rs.40 lakhs during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Rs.4 lakhs are also due from the SDO since 2004. The total amount of Rs.1 crore are due from the PWD executive engineer Malda division and the Chanchol SDO.

“I am unable to take this and hence have written to the DM(district magistrate), the President(Ram Nath Kovind) and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealing to end my life. I had gone for a final appeal to the SDO in my car. He forcefully seized my car which is still in the SDO office since the last 25 days.”