Days after the death of an Ernst & Young (EY) India employee in Pune, allegedly due to overwork, another incident has surfaced involving a woman employee at HDFC Bank in Lucknow, who reportedly died under work-related stress.
The victim, Sadaf Fatima, held the position of additional deputy vice-president at HDFC Bank’s Vibuti Khand branch in Gomti Nagar. Colleagues stated that she collapsed in her office and fell from her chair. Although she was rushed to a nearby hospital, she was declared dead upon arrival, and her body was sent for a postmortem.
Reacting to the tragic incident, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav highlighted the growing pressure and stress in both government and private sectors, stating that employees are working under “compulsion.”
लखनऊ में काम के दबाव और तनाव के कारण एचडीएफ़सी की एक महिलाकर्मी की ऑफिस में ही, कुर्सी से गिरकर, मृत्यु का समाचार बेहद चिंतनीय है।
ऐसे समाचार देश में वर्तमान अर्थव्यवस्था के दबाव के प्रतीक हैं। इस संदर्भ में सभी कंपनियों और सरकारी विभागों तक को गंभीरता से सोचना होगा। ये देश के… pic.twitter.com/Xj49E01MSs
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 24, 2024
Yadav further commented, “The condition of employees has worsened, akin to bonded laborers, as they lack the right to even speak up. The government’s role is to solve problems, not offer baseless suggestions.”
He also took a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who had recently suggested that youth facing work pressure should learn stress management. Yadav criticized the minister’s remarks, saying, “Rather than improving working conditions, the BJP minister is aggravating the distress of young workers with insensitive advice during a time of grief. If the government cannot offer relief or improvement, it should refrain from making heartless and insensitive statements that only fuel public anger.”
