Around 135 teachers and instructors have died in the past 10 days due to confirmed COVID and COVID- like symptoms, after performing panchayat election duty in Uttar Pradesh said Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (RSM), a national level outfit of primary school teachers on Monday. The third phase of panchayat elections ended recently in the state.
The union has asked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to immediately postpone panchayat elections and provide free treatment to the infected employees. It has also demanded the government declare these employees as frontline workers and provide Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for the families of the deceased.
Seeking the surge of coronavirus cases across the state, no one wants to do election duty. Thousands of teachers, ‘shiksha mitra’ and instructors have reportedly contracted the virus or corona-like symptoms during the first phase of training till the third phase of the election.
