PATIALA: Three months after writing a letter to the then Punjab CM and seeking permission to end his life, a 36-year-old clerk, identified as Devinder Singh, committed suicide on Tuesday by hanging himself in the office of Baba Hira Singh Bhathal Institute of Engineering & Technology (BHSBIET), Lehragaga, Sangrur.
Devinder, who attempted suicide two years ago for not getting salary, had written a detailed letter to the CM in January this year and described his mental agony and hand-to-mouth existence for not being paid salary for over 2.5 years.
The entire college’s staff, including Devinder, had already been protesting for many months over their demand for salary. The staff has not been paid for around 35 months.
On Wednesday, a farmers’ group joined the protesting staff and family members of Devinder who were sitting outside the college gate. The protesters did not allow Devinder’s body to be shifted outside the college and placed it in a freezer inside college precincts.
The protesters blocked Sunam-Jakhal road on Wednesday, but lifted the protest late in the evening after district officials promised Rs 10-lakh compensation and government job to wife of the deceased.
SHO Lehragaga police station Gurcharan Singh said the body had been shifted to the civil hospital. “Devinder was facing financial stress as he had not been paid salary for past many months. Earlier also, he tried to commit suicide. He was also facing a case of alleged embezzlement of college funds. We found a suicide note from his pocket in which he had mentioned this case; we are conducting a probe.”
BHSBIET principal Satish Kansa said they had been continuously urging the state government to pay them their salaries, but all requests fell on deaf ears.
