Social worker ready to return award

LUCKNOW: A social worker, who was felicitated on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s orders for doing sanitisation work in the old Lucknow area on her own, has expressed her willingness to return the award due to a controversy over her alleged role in the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest.

Uzma Sayed Parveen took this stand after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader wrote to the chief minister, saying she did not deserve any award since she was part of the anti-CAA protest at Clock Tower in the state capital. The social worker said she did not want to be part of any controversy and only believed in serving humanity.

Hence, she said she wanted to return the award that includes a cheque for ₹11,000, a sanitisation machine, sodium hypochlorite (a disinfectant commonly known as liquid bleach), masks, gloves and a certificate of appreciation.

Lucknow municipal commissioner Indramani Tripathi had felicitated her and five of her team members at his office on May 29. On the other hand, a letter from BJP leader Dilip Srivastava addressed to the CM said, “She was part of the anti-CAA protest during its initial days. She strongly condemned the state and central government and tried to mislead people. The same woman was felicitated by the Nagar Nigam recently.”

Srivastava is the corporator from Mathali Saran Gupt ward in Lucknow. “There are two reasons for my objection. First, she is an anti-CAA protester. Second, the officers who feted Uzma didn’t follow procedure,” he said.

UZMA TOOK THIS STAND AFTER A BJP LEADER WROTE TO THE CM, SAYING SHE DID NOT DESERVE ANY AWARD, SINCE SHE WAS PART OF THE ANTI-CAA PROTEST