700 teachers died on Uttar Pradesh panchayat poll duty The unions have requested the EC to postpone the counting day, May 2

[Edited By: Vijay]

Thursday, 29th April , 2021 04:23 pm

Teachers' unions in Uttar Pradesh have submitted a list of 700 teachers and support staff who died while on panchayat poll duty to the state election commission (SEC). The unions have requested the election commission to postpone the counting day, May 2.

Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of UP Shikshak Mahasangh (UPSM), said they had given names of 700 basic education teachers from 71 districts who died amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the Allahabad High Court had sent a notice to the SEC seeking explanation on the alleged deaths of government employees due to Covid-19 during panchayat poll duty.

On Wednesday, Special Work Officer SK Singh issued a letter to all the DMs, SPs and district electoral officers to verify reports about deaths of teachers in their districts and provide a report within 24 hours.

Sharma said they were yet to receive information on the health of teachers on election duty from several districts. "The situation is extremely critical. Earlier, the union had requested the state election commission, after there was a big increase in cases on April 12, to postpone the polls but the request was ignored," Sharma said.

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