chief minister Yogi Adityanath
BAREILLY: A prominent teachers’ union in UP said on Monday that after updating figures from various centres across the state, the number of teachers who died after contracting Covid during panchayat poll duty has been revised from the earlier 706 to 1,621.
In a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, president of Prathmik Shikshak Sangh Dinsesh Chandra Sharma has demanded Rs 1crore compensation for the families of the teachers and appealed that they be called Covid warriors . The list contains the names, employee numbers and other details of the teachers. The union said that most deaths took place in May.
The UP panchayat elections were conducted at a massive scale in four phases on April 15, 19, 26, and 29 in 75 districts. Around 1.3 million candidates were in the fray for around 800,000 posts, including 3,050 zila panchayat wards, over 75,000 kshetra panchayat wards and over 700,000 gram panchayat wards.
Around 1.5 million people cast their votes at 80,762 polling booths, where four polling officers and two security personnel or home guards were deployed each. Around 50% staff was to be kept in reserve. Around 300,000 teachers were assigned to election duties in the state, said Pawan Shankar Dixit, treasurer, Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, Uttar Pradesh (RSMUP), an RSS affiliate. I wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on March 27 requesting mandatory vaccination of all those teachers in the state who are meant to take up election duties. But the government turned a blind eye to the appeal, said RSMUP chief Virendra Mishra while adding that no action was taken.
Speaking to
FactChecker, RSMUP chief Virendra Mishra said that on March 27 he had asked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to mandatorily vaccinate all teachers on poll duty. However, no action was taken, he said. Polling officers that included teachers and
shiksha mitras received training from April 9-15. During these trainings, the officers were reportedly gathered in large crowds against preventive guidelines.
Information
Teacher s body requested to postpone elections; nothing happened Uttar Pradesh Shikshak Mahasangh (UPSM) and Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Sangh (UPPSS) chief Dinesh Chandra Sharma said that on April 12 he had requested the State Election Commission to postpone the elections as the teachers were not provided medical assistance. However, this call was ignored.
Teachers’ unions rage against the UP government as 135 members die from Covid-19 after poll duty
Chief Minister Adityanath ignored appeals to vaccinate all election officers before polling day. Officials count votes for Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections. | PTI
On May 6, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a compensation of Rs 30 lakh for the families of teachers and shiksha mitras who died during the recent panchayat polls.
This happened after the Allahabad High Court took cognisance of the death of 135 such polling officers.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tweeted on May 1 that over 700 teachers who were on poll duty during Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections died of Covid-19.
India News: Teachers’ unions in Uttar Pradesh, including one affiliated to RSS, announced on Friday they would boycott their poll duty on May 2, the day panchayat.