The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday said according to details collected by district magistrates of teachers who passed away allegedly after getting infected with Covid during panchayat poll duty, only 3 teachers have been found to have died “on duty” according to rules laid down by the state election commission. This is in stark contrast to the claims of deaths of more than 1600 teachers/ workers of the basic education department, made by a prominent teachers union in the state- Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Sangh. The basic education department of UP government on Tuesday said according to the State Election Commission rules if a death occured after the worker/teacher left home for polling/counting duty and before he returned home after finishing his duty, only that death would be considered to have taken place while “on duty” and be eligible for ex-gratia compensation. This implies, even if one was believed to have contracted the virus while on duty, but passed away days later, the family of that deceased would not be compensated. The teachers union had on Sunday sent a letter to the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath attaching a list of 1,621 teachers/workers who had passed away after allegedly contracting Covid-19 while on poll/counting duty. The union had demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for families of the deceased, referring also to the Allahabad High Court’s recent observation that Rs 30 lakh was too less. “This is a highly unfortunate, irresponsible and insensitive claim made by the government,” Dinesh Sharma, president of the UP Prathmik Shiksha Sangh told ET in reaction to the government’s claim. ‘We are dedicated to get our teachers their due and we will continue the fight even if we have to take to the streets or approach the court for this,” Sharma said. The State Election Commission in a submission to the Allahabad High Court on May 7 had said 77 polling officers from 28 districts had passed away during panchayat poll duty, who will be given a compensation of Rs 30 lakh. This statistic would have included other officers too, apart from teachers.
The department in a press note also cautioned against being “misled” by “baseless” reports and “cooperating” with the Covid control efforts of the state government.
Source: Economic Times
