Working in a government sector as anyone in any department, one is liable for the tasks that are not part of one’s primary job. Elections in the midst of Covid have been a condemnable act on the part of the authorities. People crowded to make democracy function smoothly, but democracy didn’t even care about their lives. It was a matter of livelihood for the teachers to perform Poll Duty for Panchayat elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh. They were pleased by pennies and the condition was to put their lives at risk. Meanwhile, they were helpless, susceptible to lose their source of income. Teachers, indeed, were barred to take classes at schools, but they had to make their presence possible at the Election booth when it came to elections. This blameful act has cost more than sixteen hundred lives of teachers in the state. Since the UP Primary Teachers’ Association has reached the government with a long list of those dead by Covid as a result of the Panchayat elections, the authority in power must sense the guilty conscience. It may be hard for them to swallow that the cause of more than sixteen hundred deaths has been the authority itself who failed to value the lives of people. How would they pay them back? The Association has demanded job security for the kins of the deceased along with financial assistance as compensation to the bereaved families. Has it added to the miseries of the authority in Uttar Pradesh? What they gained out of it? A blameworthy existence, terrible addition to history, sixteen hundred helpless lives, and the penalties in mere conduction of Polls amid Covid crisis. Elections might have earned votes to those in power, whilst Election Duty has earned teachers nothing but death!

This post was published on May 19, 2021 4:16 pm