With UP Board staff on rural poll duty, exam preparations take a hit
PRAYAGRAJ : As nearly all employees of the UP Board office have been deputed for panchayat poll duties, all work related to the upcoming class 10 and 12 exams has come to a grinding halt.
This was the first time since 1999 when almost the entire staff of UP Board had been roped in for panchayat polls duties, claim UP Board officials. Dates of UP Board exams-2021 were recently revised. As per it, the board exams will now begin on May 8. Earlier the exams were scheduled to begin on April 24 but were rescheduled due to UP panchayat elections.
The three-tier panchayat polls in the state will be held in four phases on April 15, 19, 26 and 29. A list of 412 employees of UP Board headquarters was sent to the district administration. Of them, 296 employees were assigned panchayat poll related responsibilities in the first list itself. The remaining employees have been kept in reserve duty in two phases, the officials add. Only two or three women employees, who are Covid positive, have not been assigned panchayat poll duties, they claim.
With all employees on poll duty, it was bus obvious that all work related to the forthcoming high school and intermediate exams had to be stopped, said a senior UP Board official requesting anonymity.
“On April 14, these employees will leave for various polling stations with polling parties. After voting on April 15, April 16 will be a day off. UP Board headquarters has two days’ holiday on April 17 and April 18. In such a situation, the work of Board examination is expected to re-start only from next week,” the officials said.
Although UP Board officials and staff were reluctant to directly comment on the issue, teacher MLC (Allahabad-Jhansi division) Suresh Kumar Tripathi dubbed the move wrong. “It is as if the importance and scale of UP Board exams have completely escaped the officials concerned. Some staff should have been spared so that the exam preparations could also proceed unhindered,” he said.
Tripathi said this time a number of women had also been made presiding officers of polling stations. “The fact that the locations are remote and lacking adequate facilities for their overnight stay has simply been overlooked which is unjust and improper” he added.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court directed the state government on Tuesday to look into the viability of complete lock-down in those districts of the state, where corona spread had increased alarmingly, for at least two to three weeks and to restrict public gatherings to 50 people.
The court also directed the Central as well as state government to ensure sufficient production of Remdesivir by making raw material available to pharmaceutical companies, ensure its supply in the open market and to take stern action against those who were hoarding it and black marketing it.
The bench of justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar passed the order on a suo motu public interest litigation petition (PIL) dealing with the condition of quarantine centres of the state and treatment of corona patients.
“The surge has absolutely paralysed public life and all the medical aid systems have reached a stage of complete saturation. We have been informed that Covid hospitals are flooded with patients and there is shortage of both manpower and facilities.”
“The situation is so alarming that if it is not handled carefully and cautiously, we may head towards a stage of complete collapse of the public health system,” observed the bench.
The bench directed, “While we insist on emergency purchases of BiPAP machines ( a kind of ventilator) and high flow cannula masks to meet the demands of patients who may even be lying in the corridors of Covid hospitals/ centres, we direct the government to acquire open places in the city areas of districts that are worst hit in the state, to set up temporary level 1 hospital in a makeshift structure.”
The bench went on to observe, “Arrange man-power
on contract basis immediately to serve all those admitted to temporary level 1 Covid hospitals/ centres. We also direct for immediate purchase and supply of BiPAP machine and high flow cannula masks in ambulances of all the district hospitals and level 2 and level 3 hospitals of districts like Prayagraj, Lucknow,Varanasi,Kanpur and Gorakhpur, where Covid infection has got widely spread.”
“We have been informed that a new Covid testing machine (cobas) is not functioning for want of testing kit. We direct the state government to provide/arrange testing kits for this machine at Moti LaL Nehru College, Allahabad within 24 hours.”
The court asked the state government to vigorously carry out the immunisation programme in the state.
On medical needs of nonCovid patients, the bench said, “We must not forget that people suffer from various other diseases and so they may need not only urgent medical help but incentive care admission as well.”
The court directed the state government to buy more ICU beds for hospitals.
“We must give priority to public health over elections and the government is expected to streamline every department of public health and public care in the light of the observations made hereinabove,” said the bench while fixing April 19 as the next date of hearing in the case.
During the course of hearing, some lawyers complained that health officials were not conducting Covid test properly to show fewer patients and that samples were kept pending for test for more than 12 hours.