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UP: Covid crisis claims at least 706 primary teachers and kin owing to election duty!

The death toll is much higher if you consider the relatives of the deceased who also died due to exposure, said members of the teachers association in a letter to the administration.

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At least 706 teachers died due to Covid-19 after continued duty at the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh, said State Primary Teachers Association President Dinesh Sharma on April 30, 2021.

Speaking to Sabrang India via a telephone call, Sharma said he has received further reports of 15-16 deaths as of Friday evening. He also mentioned that on top of a complete lack of responsibility from the government’s side, the concerned teachers did not have any protective gear to arm themselves from the infection.

“It is completely inhuman what the government is doing. They neither offer any relief nor take responsibility for what is happening,” he said.

Earlier, on April 29, the Association sent a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and State Election Commission to request a postponement of the panchayat-level elections that has already exposed so many teachers to the coronavirus infection. Members requested that the polling on May 2 in the interest of saving teachers’ lives.

“The teaching community is rife with the fear of death. We are repeatedly asking the state administration to boycott the coming polls,” said the letter.

Along with the group’s earnest request, the letter also listed 706 people who died by Thursday. The letter also mentioned that the list would be much longer if it was to include the names of relatives as well.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government, after incessant assurances of no health crisis, declared that people who take to social media seeking beds for ailing relatives will face charges under the National Security act (NSA). Adityanath instructed the police to levy charges on any person spreading “rumours”. On Tuesday, a case was registered against a man who took to twitter to make an appeal for an oxygen cylinder.

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