2021: Year of death and mourning when Yogi govt did not exist in Uttar Pradesh

No one wants to remember 2021. The year witnessed people dying like flies and serpentine queues outside cremation grounds as they failed to get timely treatment in hospitals. Those who survived, are now struggling to get post-covid treatment with the government practically remaining non-existent when it is required the most.

Deaths were frequent not only in cities but in villages too as deadly corona infection has infiltrated into the rural heartland of Uttar Pradesh where the government has no record to ascertain how many people have died of Coronavirus so far. The only testimony of death in the villages was cries of women and children emanating from time to time. They died without treatment because villagers ignore fever and body ache. They treat them as seasonal fever which will go with the passage of time. But this time, it was different. Before the relatives could understand what is happening, the patient died.

“No one wants to remember those three months from April to June when Government practically did not exist. When people wanted help it was nowhere. The demand for oxygen shot up and medicines vanished from the racks of medical stores.

The Adityanath government’s intolerance for dissent became evident during those dark times too when it sought to clamp down criticism of its public health failures by booking hospitals for requesting oxygen supply, sending notices to reporters for questioning the shortage of the life-saving gas, and filing cases against residents for complaining about the state’s abysmal healthcare system.

“Us waqt Ram Rajya laane wali sarkar khud Ram bharose thee”, said Anniruddh Sharma, a social activist.

He said: “There were thousands of people across Uttar Pradesh who were struggling to get hospital beds, medicines and when some of them died, their relatives lined up in crematorium for hours to cremate the bodies”.

People purchased Remdesivir, a crucial drug for the treatment of Covid-19, at Rs 12,000 per vial against the printed price of Rs 4500. Another drug Covifor sold at an exorbitant rate of Rs 4000 while its actual price was Rs 1500.

People started dying like flies, temporary cremation grounds were formed. In Kanpur 35 new temporary platforms were set up on the Bithoor-Sidhnath Ghat stretch along river Ganga. Cremation ground in Lucknow was covered with corrugated tin sheets to obstruct the view.

In rural areas, when villagers failed to get enough firewood to cremate bodies, they threw the dead bodies into the river.

“This year 2021 was like a black blot on the face of civilized society and Yogi was a big failure who failed to protect the lives of the people,” Sharma said.

The years will also be remembered for the Lakhimpur Kheri incident where the son of a union minister mowed down the farmers when they were silently protesting against the three farm laws. The son has been arrested but the father is still a minister in the Modi cabinet. Then there was a case of police brutality when a trader from Kanpur was beaten to death in Gorakhpur.

“This is good that the year 2021 has passed because no one wants to remember this year marked by government's colossal administrative failure,” Rajendra Chaudhry, the Samajwadi Party spokesman said.