Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh acting as a COVID ‘super spreader’: CPI leader Atul Kumar Anjaan

CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan has blamed the collapse of state administration for the chaotic conditions in Uttar Pradesh during the pandemic. Anjaan said that even after ICMR and IMA had warned about the severity of the second wave, no preparation was made by the Yogi Adityanath government to deal with the situation.

The CPI national secretary said that the government should have retained the infrastructure built during the first wave. He said that there was no adequate arrangement of oxygen and proper beds in the hospitals, people were dying in the hospitals due to shortage of ventilators and oxygen. Even the necessary medicines were not available to people who were forced to buy oxygen and medicines in black from the market, he added.

He cited the letter written by UP cabinet minister Brijesh Pathak to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about the manner in which the life of noted historian and Padam Shree awardee Yogesh Praveen could not be saved as an ambulance reached him very late despite his instructions to Lucknow CMO.

He also cited the example of a former judge in Lucknow who could not arrange medical treatment for his wife despite desperate phone calls to the CMO and other authorities. Ultimately, his wife died due to lack of treatment and he had to make Herculean efforts for her cremation as nobody came forward to help.

The CPI leader said that even powerful persons like the president of IAS officers’ body Deepak Trivedi had a tough time in getting an ambulance and a bed in SGPGI. So much so, even Union minister and former chief of Indian Army Gen VK Singh had to appeal to Ghaziabad DM to get a close relative admitted to hospital, he said.

Anjaan said that the government was busy in hiding the number of dead persons due to COVID which was evident from the fact that the Lucknow municipal corporation hid a cremation ground when a video showing mass cremation went viral.

The CPI leader alleged that in order to cover up the shortcoming of the administration, the government was deliberately hiding the number of dead persons. The truth was exposed by persons deployed the cremation at various cremation grounds all over the state, he said.

Talking about the functioning of the administration, the CPI leader said there was panic in the state as from the CM to senior bureaucrats, doctors and paramedical staff, all were affected by COVID. He blamed the BJP for putting the entire state machinery into work for conducting panchayat elections during the pandemic.

The CPI leader said that panchayat elections could be a super spreader event for pandemic as a large number of people were returning to their villages from big cities to participate in polls.

He cited the observations of Allahabad High Court that the state had enough to spend on elections and very little for public health, VIPs getting RT-PCR report in 12 hours and ordinary citizens waiting for three days. The government knew of the magnitude of the second wave, but it never made necessary plans in advance, he said, adding that it was a sad commentary on the functioning of the state government

(IPA Service)

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