Close on the heels of the municipal authorities erecting a temporary wall around the main crematorium in the state capital of Lucknow, allegedly to hide the mounting death figures, the administration in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's home town of Gorakhpur also put up signboards at the crematorium stating that photography and videography were "punishable offence".
"The bodies are being cremated in accordance with Hindu rituals. Kindly don't click pictures or make videos, it is a punishable offence," the banners, put up by the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation, said.
The administration, however, removed the banners after a hue and cry on social media after the pictures of the signboards went viral, sources said.
Sources said that the decision to put up the signboards was aimed at hiding the mounting death toll from Covid infections.
Barely a few days back, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation had also erected temporary walls around the main crematorium in the town and had barred 'unauthorised' people from entering the place after disturbing videos of scores of burning pyres went viral on social media.
The opposition leaders had sharply reacted to the decision saying that the state government was trying to hide the number of deaths from Covid.
Lucknow and Gorakhpur were among the worst-affected districts in UP.
(Published 02 May 2021, 12:31 IST)
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