Yogi asks for changes in guidelines on deaths during poll duty
: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asked state government officials to work with the state election commission (SEC) for changing the guidelines so that financial compensation and other benefits could be given for the Covid-19 deaths of government staff days after they were on duty during the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls.
“The UP chief secretary and the additional chief secretary (panchayati raj) should coordinate with the commission and request it to amend the guidelines by including death due to Covid infection in a certain time period from the date of election duty. The first meeting should be held today itself,” Yogi Adityanath said at a Covid-19 review meeting.
The CM’s directive comes at a time when teachers’ associations and the Opposition have been raising such a demand even as they claim that a total of 1,621 government school staff died between the first week of April and May 16 (two weeks after the
counting of votes).
A senior state government official said that any policy change would be with retrospective effect, factoring in the panchayat polls held in April.
The chief minister also said: “The state government has been acting as per the SEC guidelines so far for compensating any staff who dies on election duty, be it teachers, shiksha mitras, anudeshaks, rozgar sewaks, police personnel, or any government employee on election duty. But because the guidelines are old — when Covid did not exist — so there is a need to have a relook with sympathy.”
Hindustan Times has been reporting extensively on the
issue, including the need to relook and change the guidelines. In the HT reports, several experts, including former chief election commissioner of India SY Quraishi, said the state government and the state election commission (SEC) should go for a “liberal interpretation” in case of casualty of government staff deployed on election duty, especially when the country is facing the pandemic.
“The step by the chief minister is worth welcoming and we stress that the compensation should be Rs 1 crore and any policy change must be with retrospective effect,” said Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of the Pradeshiya Prathamik Shikshak Sangh (a teachers’ association). He also said the Allahabad high court had made an observation for the government to consider giving compensation of Rs 1 crore.Contrary to the demands of the association and the Opposition, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday had said that only three government teachers succumbed to Covid-19 during the recently held panchayat polls, dismissing claims by prominent teachers’ bodies that at least 1,600 staff died after contracting the infection.
The basic education department said its numbers were based on reports submitted by district magistrates across the state so far and the existing rules of SEC. The department on Wednesday announced that the government would give Rs 30 lakh each to the next of kin of the three government schoolteachers and a government job to an eligible candidate in each family.
The four-phase elections were held on April 15, 19, 26 and 29. The counting of votes was taken up on May 2.
Giving a break-up of the association’s claim on the number of deaths, Sharma said: “Out of 1,621 government school staff, 1332 were teachers, 209 shiksha mitras (para teachers), 25 anudeshaks (instructors), five block education officers, 15 clerks and 35 other employees.”
A former official with the state election commission, who asked not to be named, said, “One should consider the death of government staff on a case-bycase basis and there cannot be a generalised rule that can be applied to all cases.”
At Thursday’s Covid review meeting, while asking the state government officers concerned to act in coordination with SEC, the chief minister said: “The state government is committed to providing all necessary benethe fits, especially, in times of election duties or any such other such duties. So, get into a dialogue with the SEC and make necessary recommendations.”