Govt employee dies in ATM queue

Hooghly: A state government employee who was returning home in Kolkata from his place of posting died while standing in a queue in front of an ATM counter near Bandel station in Hooghly district today. The employee, Kallol Roychoudhury (56), was returning to his Behala home in South Kolkata from Cooch Behar in North Bengal where he was posted. He got down at Bandel station from Paharia Express this morning with his colleague and was supposed to catch another train to come to Kolkata. But then, he decided to withdraw some money from an ATM counter at Station Road near the station. He stood in the queue at 7.35 am, became unwell after 20 minutes and fell down. The police said nobody extended a helping hand and he remained unattended for 30 minutes. Later, the security personnel of the ATM called a doctor who pronounced him dead and advised the security man to take Roychowdhury's body to a hospital. Some vendors took Roychoudhury's body to Chinsurah Imambara Hospital where doctors pronounced him brought dead. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the incident as "unfortunate" and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking note of it. "Unfortunate death toll continues... This morning Kallol Roy Chowdhury collapsed and died in front of SBI ATM at Bandel station. My condolences to the bereaved family. Is Modi babu listening?" she said in a tweet. Two elderly persons had died yesterday in South 24 Parganas district of the state while standing in a queue to withdraw money.