Chandannagar Dy Magistrate Debdatta Roy was put on ventilator on Sunday and died the next day.
On May 5, the first Shramik Special train to West Bengal, carrying 1,186 passengers from Ajmer, Rajasthan — most of them migrants — pulled into Dankuni Junction in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. From then to July 1, when she went on leave after developing symptoms of Covid, Debdatta Roy, Deputy Magistrate of Chandannagar in Hooghly district and the officer tasked with overseeing the inflow of migrant labourers, has had her hands full.
On Monday morning, four days after she tested positive for Covid-19, the 38-year-old bureaucrat died, leaving behind her four-year-old son and husband, who has also tested positive and is in hospital.
Family members said Roy underwent a Covid test at B N Bose Memorial Hospital in Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas district. Her report, with the positive status, came last Thursday. However, she chose to go in for home quarantine. But on Sunday, she developed breathing problems and was admitted to Shramajibi Hospital in Serampore, Hooghly, where she was put on oxygen support. On Monday morning, she passed away.
Her colleagues remember Roy as an officer who always took the lead.
“She took charge of managing everything at quarantine centres meant for migrant labourers. She visited the centres several times to ensure that labourers got food and all other support,” said a government official in Hooghly.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the family and wrote a letter to Debdatta’s husband, calling her an “outstanding Covid warrior”.
“In the forefront of our fight against Covid-19, Debdatta was an outstanding warrior who fought this crisis with extreme courage and determination. I salute her great spirit and sacrifice for the State,” Banerjee wrote.
A 2011 batch officer of the West Bengal Civil Services, Debdatta was Block Development Officer at Purulia before she was moved to Chandannagar as Deputy Magistrate.
Hailing from Motijhil area of Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas district, Roy and her family had been living in her government quarters in Hooghly. Her husband Pabitra is associated with a consulting firm.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that family members of “Covid warriors” who died of the virus would be given government jobs and Rs 10 lakh in financial assistance.
‘Covid warriors’ include doctors, healthcare officials, police and government employees.
The Chief Minister informed that 268 police personnel, 30 doctors, 43 nurses and 62 government officials in the state had been infected with the coronavirus.