Siliguri, July 26: Fifty nine people have died due to malaria in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district so far this year causing concern among the authorities and health officials here. The death toll has already surpassed last year's number of 42 due to the "stubborn spread of the disease", Divisional Commissioner of Jalpaiguri Debaditya Chakraborty told reporters here yesterday. Chakraborty, who held an emergency meeting with district Magistrate Subrata Gupta and senior health officials to review the situation, said an expert team would arrive here on Monday from Kolkata in this regard. District health officials, meanwhile, said infrastructure to fight the disease was "inadequate". They claimed the fund required to spray DDT has not been released. However, with financial assistance pouring in from the Jalpaiguri District Council (Zilla Parisad), 11 technicians would soon be engaged to examine blood samples. Bureau Report.