By Pradeep Kapoor
LUCKNOW: CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan has blamed the collapse of state administration for chaotic condition in Uttar Pradesh during pandemic. Atul Anjaan said that when ICMR and IMA had warned about severity of second wave there was no preparation on the part of Yogi Adityanath government to deal with the situation.
CPI national secretary said that government should have retained the infrastructure built during first wave. Atul Anjan said that there was no adequate arrangement of oxygen and proper beds in the hospitals, people were dying in the hospitals for shortage of ventilators and oxygen. Even the medicines were not available to people who were forced to buy oxygen and medicines in black from the market, he added.
He said the way cabinet minister Brijesh Pathak wrote a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that how life of great historian Padamshree Yogesh Praveen could not be saved as ambulance reached him very late despite his instructions to Lucknow CMO. He also cited the example of former judge of Lucknow who could not arrange medical treatment for his wife despite desperate phone calls to CMO and other authorities. Ultimately his wife died due to lack of treatment and he had to make efforts for her cremation as nobody came forward to help.
CPI leader said that even powerful persons like President of IAS officers body Deepak Trivedi had tough time in getting ambulance and bed in SGPGI. So much so, union minister and former chief of Indian Army Gen VK Singh had to appeal to Ghaziabad DM to get his close relative admitted to hospital, Atul Anjaan disclosed.
Atul Anjan said that government was busy in hiding the number of dead persons due to corona which was evident from the fact Lucknow Nagarmahapalika covered the cremation ground when the video showing mass cremation went viral. 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 the persons deployed for the cremation at various cremation grounds all over the state.
Talking about the functioning of the administration, CPI leader said there was panic in state as from CM to senior bureaucrats, doctors and paramedical staff all were affected by corona. Atul Anjan blamed BJP for putting entire state machinery into panchayat elections during pandemic. CPI leader said that panchayat elections could be super speader for pandemic as large number of people were returning to their villages from big cities to participate in polls.
Citing the observations of Allahabad High Court that state had enough to spend on elections, very little for public health, VIPs getting RT-PCR report in 12 hours and ordinary citizens waiting for three days, government knew the magnitude of second wave it never planned things in advance is a sad commentary on functioning of state government, Atul Anjaan opined. (IPA Service)
