Politicians pledge monetary support
LUCKNOW: With the government extending the lockdown across UP in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19, politicians in the most populous state desperate to connect with masses in these times of social distancing began donating their salaries and sanction using their local area development fund to procure masks and sanitisers.
Many of them also started interacting with people through social media to assure them that they were there for them while others began creating separate WhatsApp groups to reach out to their audience amid fears that without support the government’s healthcare infrastructure may not be able to cater to the alarming increase of people turning coronavirus positive.
From Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav to state’s deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, law minister Brijesh Pathak and others, from Congress’s UP legislative party leader Ardhana Mishra ‘Mona’ to Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Mishra ‘Sajan’ and BSP’s Lalganj MP Sangeeta Azad and Ambedkarnagar MP Ritesh Pandey, BJP’s ally Apna Dal chief Anupriya Patel, the MP from Mirzapur, all of them have started pitching in with monetary support in fight against the virus. While Mulayam Singh Yadav has pledged Rs 2.5 million (Rs 25 lakh), Maurya gave Rs 10 million (Rs 1 crore) and his month’s salary (nearly Rs 1 lakh plus emoluments). UP law minister too pledged a month’s salary besides Rs 2.5 million from his local area fund. Other deputy CM Dinesh Sharma too was expected to unveil similar plans.
Primary education minister Satish Dwivedi besides pledging a month’s salary as well as Rs 2.5 million (Rs 25 lakh) from his local area development fund to supplement the healthcare facilities connected with the people of Itwa assembly segment in Siddharth Nagar district that borders Nepal. He also connected with some of the residents of his assembly segment through facebook. “Many told me that sanitisers and masks and even vegetables had gone costly in Itwa and I
have asked officials to look into the issue,” Dwivedi said explaining that given the advisory to maintain social distance, he had decided to connect with the people through social media.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too wrote a letter to party functionaries in UP urging them to set up WhatsApp groups and connect with people. “Connect with the people, help the masses get medical facilities, ensure the poor are getting food and the elderly aren’t devoid of medical care. Run awareness campaign on Covid-19 on social media,” she directed.
Ardahana Mishra ‘Mona’, the Congress legislative party leader in UP, pledged Rs 10 lakh for availability of masks, sanitisers in her Rampur (khaas) assembly segment. “This is the first instalment and I will get more monetary support when required,” she said. The lawmakers from the ruling party like Rajesh Kumar Mishra from Bithari, Chainpur assembly segment, to Sanjay Gupta, the MLA from Chayal, along with many lawmakers from opposition have started writing to district magistrates or chief development officers pitching in with monetary help ranging from Rs 10 lakh and more.
SP chief tagged a video of a student in his tweet to flag the issue of healthcare providers being
made to fight the virus sans necessary equipment. “We applauded on your call Mr PM but we would like to know how many wards and ventilators have your government added and how healthcare infrastructure was augmented in UP,” the student asks in the video that Yadav shared from his twitter handle as as his party leaders started contributing monetary support.
“To contain the spread of virus, the healthcare system needs hand holding. To ensure availability of mask and sanitisers as well as to support the fight against the virus, I have cleared Rs 2.5 million (Rs 25 lakh) from my local area development fund,” said SP MLC Sunil Singh ‘Sajan’. BSP MP Ritesh Pandey, in his letter to DMs of Ambedkarnagar and Ayodhya, said he was sanctioning Rs 5 million (Rs 50 lakh) for availability of masks and sanitisers and for augmenting the healthcare set up in these places. “Despite limited resources, the main opposition SP and its leaders have begun pledging monetary support. It’s a pandemic of the kind world wasn’t prepared for. The BJP government reacted late but we don’t want to get into politics at the moment. As a responsible opposition, we will do our best in mitigating the worries,” said Samajwadi Party leader IP Singh.