Akhilesh Yadav accuses Yogi Adityanath of fudging COVID-19 death figures in UP

Targeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of fudging COVID-19 death data. He claimed that the BJP government did not want to share figures as it did not want to help citizens.

Speaking to the media, Yadav said, "the government did not give the statistics pertaining to the COVID-19 deaths, nor any help was given to them. They (UP government) did not give the statistics of COVID-19 deaths, as they did not want to help (the people)." 

According to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) data published on Sunday, Uttar Pradesh has reported a total of 22,693 COVID-29-related fatalities. So far, the state has confirmed 17,07,225 cases, while 16,82,924 individuals have recovered from the illness.

UP govt hid fatalities during panchayat polls, says Akhilesh

Akhilesh also alleged that the Yogi government hid figures of teachers who died during panchayat poll duty. “When the teachers went on (panchayat poll) duty, it was said that only three teachers died (on poll duty due to COVID-19). Later, when organisations and we raised questions, the government had to admit that actually how many lives were lost,” the SP chief said.

A teachers' body in May claimed that more than 1,600 teachers and workers of the state's basic education department have died due to coronavirus since the first week of April. Uttar Pradesh Praathmik Shikshak Sangh (UPPSS) also claimed that 90% of them were on panchayat polls duty.

“As many as 1,621 teachers and workers of the basic education department have died since the first week of April. Of these 1,621 deaths, more than 90% of the teachers were on panchayat election duty," UPPSS President Dr Dinesh Chandra Sharma said.

UP minister of state (independent charge) for basis education Satish Chandra Dwivedi, refuting the claims, said all these deaths cannot be attributed to election duty. According to government data, only three teachers died due to COVID-19, he added.

On May 31, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet announced Rs 30 lakh for the kin of government officials who died during poll duty, including those who died within 30 days of poll duty. 

(with inputs from agencies)