Farmers Movement Archive

BKU to prepare list of corona deaths in villages

MEERUT The Bharatiya Kisan Union( BKU) leaders and activists will expose the alleged under reporting of Covid-19 deaths in villages by collecting and compiling details of victims. The state government launched a special drive from May 5 to detect corona cases in villages and claimed to be carrying out adequate testing and treatment. But BKU leaders alleged that the situation was grim in villages and due to resource crunch, the government was under-reporting corona deaths. BKU’s state spokesperson Dharnendra Malik said that villagers were fearful and the government had failed to provide facilities of proper testing and treatment. People were suffering from fever and dying in villages and in most of the cases deaths are being under reported, with hapless villagers silently cremating bodies of their dear and near in villages. Malik said that taking stock of the situation, the BKU had directed its activists in villages across the state to collect details of suspected Covid 19 deaths in their villages and send them to the union. “ Union activists and leaders have already started collecting details and hope that lists from villages would be made available in a week or so”, said Malik. BKU Saharanpur division’s general secretary Raju Ahlawat claimed that the situation in villages was grim, but officials had their own way of functioning. They overlooked complaints and concerns shown by union leaders and instead of understanding pain and sufferings of people. Citing example of his village Bhainsi in Muzaffarnagar district, Ahlawat claimed that the village had panchayat poll on April 19 and barely a few days after that people started showing corona symptoms. “At least 18 people died in one month in the village and hundreds are still suffering from fever,” said Ahlawat, expressing anger for under-reporting deaths in villages. He said, “ We need actual data of deaths and people suffering from Covid 19 so that the real situation of villages may be known.” He questioned how a government could evolve policies and facilities with fudged data. Harnam Singh Verma, BKU Lucknow division president, said that he had also mobilized union activists in villages to prepare the list and hoped that it would be prepared within a week. He also said that there was a mismatch between data of Covid-19 deaths released by the government and reality. Verma said that his village Naubasta Kala was situated barely 2 kms from Chinhat and more than two dozen people had died after showing corona like symptoms, but government data showed very few deaths.

Hindustan Times

15-05-2021

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