HOW YOGI TOOK ON THE COVID-19 THREAT
UP started preparing for taking on Covid-19 as soon as the first case in India was identified on 30 January.
‘The Chief Minister was at the time in the middle of a video conference with district magistrates on Covid-19 when we realised what was happening at the Anand Vihar bus stand. A chit, encapsulating the developments, along with a few pictures and videos of the developments, was immediately sent to the day officer who was with the Chief Minister at the time. As soon as the CM read the chit, realising the massive challenge that we were facing, all officials concerned were immediately contacted, including the Ghaziabad administration. Leaving the distressed people to their fate was not even discussed as an option. The process to mobilise the buses started immediately. It was a hard task as drivers and conductors were all on leave due to the national lockdown. They had to be called and lockdown passes issued; it was a massive logistical challenge. However, by nightfall, a strong response to the challenge was already in place. Yogi Adityanath personally ensured buses were requisitioned. He went to sleep at 3 am that night only after the buses had started moving towards their destinations after picking up the migrants,” recalled Mritunjay Kumar, the media advisor to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while narrating how things moved at 5 Kalidas Marg, the residence of the UP CM, as news started breaking that an estimated 1.5 lakh migrant labourers were converging at Anand Vihar bus stand in Delhi on 28 March to go back to their native places in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The day officer is an IAS officer who is assigned to the Chief Minister and stays with the Chief Minister the entire day. He/ she is changed every day.
ADMINISTRATION GOT ACTIVE IN FEBRUARY ITSELF
According to Lucknowbased officials, the UP government had started preparing for the challenges that Covid-19 would bring, as soon as the first case in India was identified on 30 January and that helped in the smooth execution to deal with the developments at Anand Vihar.
“We have more than 20 crore people to take care of. The CM told us that if we wait for it to spread in to Uttar Pradesh and then act, it would be too late. Hence, we were among the first few states to take this pandemic seriously. Village and block level awareness level was started in February, officials at primary healthcare centres were given basic training on how to deal with Covid-19. By 13 March, we had ordered the closure of all schools; thermal analysers were placed at the Indo-nepal border, screening had started taking place at all the airports in the state and control rooms had started functioning at all the districts, so that any relevant information from the ground is not missed,” an official in the Chief Minister’s Office told The Sunday Guardian.
Details of the steps taken by Yogi Adityanath to deal with Covid-19 in March, analysed by The Sunday Guardian, reveal how the Adityanath government kept minute details into consideration while dealing with the pandemic.
At almost every step, as stated by officials and as per government documents seen by The Sunday Guardian, Adityanath was personally monitoring everything and that perhaps made sure that the crisis in India’s most populated state, where the density of population is 828 persons per square km, was handled without any panic.
Since the pandemic broke in the country, Adityanath brought together a dedicated team of 11 senior bureaucrats of the state, loosely called “Team 11”, who would meet the Chief Minister at 11 am in Lucknow daily to draw a detailed plan keeping the recent Covid-19 developments into consideration.
“The CM is very much particular when it comes to making sure that no individual, especially at the lowest strata, faces any hardship. He has experienced the challenges that one faces at a lower economic level and hence specific instructions have been issued by him to make sure that the poor do not face problems. For example, he has told officers that many of the people, for various reasons, will not come out and stand in queue for ration even if they are hungry, hence he instructed the officers to go at their doorsteps and deliver the ration. Since these directions came from the CM directly, it was very strictly followed,” Mritunjay Kumar, who has been a veteran journalist, told The Sunday Guardian.
From identifying the members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who had gone into hiding, thereby risking the people around them, and taking action against them for knowingly spreading the disease, to registering 46 FIRS on a single day against those shop owners who were found to be hoarding or selling commodities at excess price, Adityanath’s message to his officials, of taking immediate and strict action, made sure that those who were trying to bypass the law were identified and punished. “These quick actions were successful in giving a stern message to others that we are very serious about the crisis at hand,” a a senior Lucknow-based IPS official, who is engaged in tackling the pandemic, said.
The Sunday Guardian spoke to a businessman who has multiple wine shops in Noida and Ghaziabad. He told this newspaper, that despite getting requests from leaders and officials who were willing to pay thrice the price for a liquor bottle, he was not selling them alcohol as he was sure that if he was caught, he would face strict action and no political approach will be able to help him.
FINANCIAL HELP TO THE NEEDY
Among the first steps which Adityanath took was the creation of an empowered group committee on 17 March under the state finance minister to ensure delivery of monetary help to daily wage labourers through RTGS and it was decided that all the treatment costs and cost of Covid-19 tests would be borne by the state government.
On 21 March, the state government passed the order to transfer Rs 1,000 to each of the 20.37 lakh workers who were registered with the labour department through Direct Benefit Transfer. Similarly, the state officials were asked to prepare a database of 15 lakh hawkers within 15 days so that they too could be provided with financial help. On the same day, the government “requested” private companies to pay salaries and wages and make sure that salaries were not deducted for the lockdown period. Adityanath also decided to sanction one-month ration, free of cost, to almost 1.65 beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and MGNREGA.
On the same day, it was announced that almost 84 lakh pensioners would be given two months’ advance pension. The government also directed the district magistrates to provide a monetary help of Rs 1,000 to those who were not covered in any of the schemes.
“Every step at every front was taken very meticulously. For example, on 22 March, 16 districts, which were showing the maximum signs of the pandemic, were locked down. No knee-jerk action (like imposing a lockdown in every district) was taken as we already had a robust system in place to make sure information reached us without any delay and decided action was taken immediately without any confusion or delay,” the police officer quoted above said.
DISTRIBUTION OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES
Once the lockdown was put in place, the Chief Minister directed the officials to make sure that the essential commodities, their supply and distribution, were not affected and it is one of the main issues discussed every day at the 11 am meeting.
On 24 March, Adityanath issued strict directions to take legal action against those who were spreading fake news related to Covid-19 and 51 hospitals in the state were directed to prepare Covid-19 specific wings in their hospitals, amounting to 11,000 beds within seven days. “By the fourth week of March, we had more than 43,000 vehicles, which were distributing vegetables, milk and other essential goods at the doorstep across the state. To make sure that no one goes hungry, community kitchens were set up at the district level. A direct communication was done with 30,125 village panchayat officials through CM helpline to understand what they wanted and the problems they were facing. On 26 March, an entire set of instructions were issued to arrange for protection, food and accommodation and to ferry those workers, who had walked into the state from Delhi and other places on foot while on their way to their respective home states like Bihar and Uttarakhand,” the official at CMO said. The state as on 9 April was operating 2,230 relief camps and 2,500 food camps where 10 lakh people were being given shelter and food. Before the start of April, almost 44 lakh ration card holders had got 121,025 metric tonnes of ration.
On 2 April, Rs 750 crore was allocated to the 75 districts of the state for the welfare of the daily wagers whose income had dried up due to the lockdown.
On 3 April, in a record time of four days between the decision taken and execution, two-month advance pensions to over 86 lakh senior citizens, widows, leprosy patients and differently-abled persons amounting to a sum of Rs 871.48 crore, were transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries by the government.
The state government, as per CMO officials, had established level 1 hospitals in all 75 districts of the state, level 2 hospitals in 52 districts and six hospitals for level 3 patients ( highly critical) were ready by 5 April.
“From quarantine to lockdown, from food distribution to monetary relief, everything was/is being done meticulously and in a systematic way, as a result of which there is no panic, no breakdown of law and order which would have easily happened if people thought that the state administration is not doing what it should do. Adityanath knew that he had to move swiftly as the population that he had to cater to was huge. The spread, too, has been controlled as officials are doing their work very seriously. They know that they will face the music then and there, like the DM of Noida did, if the Chief Minister is not happy. Unlike the previous government, where officials could ‘handle’ the CM through other leaders and businessmen, Adityanath is very ruthless when it comes to administration and that has helped him in handling this crisis,” a senior journalist, who is based in Lucknow, with an English daily, said.