Allahabad HC recommends 1 crore compensation for polling officers who died of COVID during UP panchayat polls

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said that the compensation for polling officers who died due to COVID-19 during the UP panchayat polls must be at least one crore as the current compensation is too less.

"To compensate the loss of life of the family's bread earner and that too because of a deliberate act on part of the State and the State Election Commission to force them to perform duties in absence of RT-PCR support, the compensation must be at least to the tune of ₹ one crore. We hope that the State Election Commission and the government will rethink the amount of compensation and come back to us on the next date fixed," the two-judge bench of Justice Siddharth Verma and Justice Ajit Kumar said while hearing a PIL on the rise of the pandemic in the state.

The court further instructed the formation of a three-member Pandemic Public Grievance Committee in every district across the state within 48 hours to address people's complaints regarding non-cooperation of government and private hospital staff and the district administration. The UP home chief secretary will issue necessary directives for the same to all district magistrates.

"No details have been given regarding food supplied to the hospitals for Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 categories. The only fact stated is that ₹ 100 is allocated per patient in Level 1 hospital. It is a well-known fact that Covid patients need highly nutritious food that should include fruits and milk daily. We fail to understand how with ₹ 100 per capita budget the government is managing three meals in Level 1 hospital with 2,100 required calories," the court observed.