Probe ordered after lakhs of smart meters stop functioning

Infection tally mounts to 1,36,238, death toll 2,230

LUCKNOW : In what is being suspected to be a mischief or an act of sabotage, over 10 lakh state-of-the-art smart meters installed in many cities, including Lucknow, stopped function suddenly on Wednesday evening causing power supply disruption to users. Energy minister, Shrikant Sharma ordered an inquiry asking the UPPCL top officials to find out the cause and take immediate steps to restore supply of affected consumers.

LUCKNOW : Uttar Pradesh’s Covid-19 infection tally mounted to 1,36,238 with 4,583 fresh cases on Wednesday while the death toll went up to 2,230 with 55 more fatalities due to the infection, said officials.

On Tuesday, the state’s infection tally was 1,31,763.

During the day, 30 districts in the state reported deaths. Lucknow recorded seven deaths, Kanpur six, Bareilly four, Gorakhpur five, Hardoi three, Varanasi three, Maharajganj two, Auraiyya three, one each in Prayagraj, Ghaziabad, Jhansi, Jaunpur, Moradabad, Agra, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Shahjahanpur, Basti, Pilibhit, Chandauli, Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, Mirzapur, Bijnor, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Bhadohi, Kanpur Dehat, Balrampur and Shravasti, as per health department data.

Lucknow reported the maximum (475) fresh cases, followed by Basti 306, Kanpur 232, Prayagraj 227, Gorakhpur 224, Varanasi 166, Ghaziabad 100 and Kushinagar 106. “Districts that are consistently reporting higher number of fresh cases such as Lucknow need to review measures being taken at the local level,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors.

The first 1,000 cases (1,184) came up on April 20, which was 49 days since the first case reported (March 2). The second thousand (2,053} came up on April 28.

The state reached the 7,000mark on May 28 and 8,000 on May 31. On June 6, UP breached the 10,000 mark. On August 2, the infection tally reached 92,921, on August 4 1,00,310, on August 5 1,04,388, on August 6 1,08,974, on August 7 1,13,378, on August 8 1,18,038, on August 9 1,22,609, on August 10 1,26,722, on August 11 1,31,763 and on August 12 he figure reached 1,36,238.