Teachers' deaths: Priyanka Gandhi slams UP govt, says it is taking away honour after death

The teachers did not get proper safety equipment and treatment, she alleged

Slamming the Uttar Pradesh government over the deaths of teachers and workers who were on duty during the panchayat polls, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday alleged that it did not provide them proper treatment and was also taking away their honour after death.

Her attack came a day after a teachers' body said over 1,600 teachers and workers of the Basic Education Department had died of Covid-19 in Uttar Pradesh since the first week of April and claimed 90 per cent of them were on panchayat poll duty.

Taking objection to the state government refuting the report, the Congress leader said, “Denying the list of 1,621 teachers, who died while doing duty during the panchayat elections, issued by the Uttar Pradesh Shikshak Sangh, an insensitive UP government is saying the number of teachers who died was only three."

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The teachers did not get proper safety equipment and treatment while they were alive and now the government is also taking away their honour after death, the Congress general secretary alleged in a tweet in Hindi.

Priyanka Gandhi had earlier too lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh government for conducting panchayat elections amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic, saying that what is happening in the state is nothing less than a "crime against humanity" and the State Election Commission (SEC) is "playing along".

According to a statement by Dr Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of the Uttar Pradesh Praathmik Shikshak Sangh, 1,621 teachers and workers of the Basic Education Department have died from the first week of April to May 16 following the outbreak of the second Covid-19 wave. “Of these 1,621 deaths, more than 90 per cent of the teachers were on panchayat election duty," he said.