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Yogi Adityanath orders transport dept to act against overloaded inter-state buses in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh chief minister says transport department must stop the operation of unauthorised, ramshackle and overloaded buses which are plying inter-state, asks officials to check their permits
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday asked the transport department to check the operation of unauthorised and ramshackle inter-state buses. He also asked them to take stern action in all such instances where these buses were overloaded.
The chief minister said that it had come to notice that many unauthorised buses were being operated inter-state and they were ramshackle and overloaded.
“The transport department must stop the operation of such buses. Check their permits and documents and go tough on overloading,” he said at a Covid-19 review meeting in Lucknow.
Two days ago, in the early hours of Wednesday (July 28), 18 people died and 30 others were injured when a truck rammed into an overloaded bus which had broken down near Ram Sanehi Ghat in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. The bus was on its way from Palwal (Haryana) to Bihar with labourers returning home. There were about 140 labourers on the bus. Many of them were resting near or under the bus at the time of the accident. A majority of the victims were crushed in their sleep.
No active Covid-19 case in nine districts
The chief minister also said the state now had 729 active Covid-19 cases and there were nine districts without any active case.
“Today, as many as nine districts in the state have no Covid active case. The total active cases in the state are 729. The Covid-19 situation is somewhat similar to the one in the initial days of the pandemic in the state last year. Aligarh, Amroha, Basti, Etah, Hathras, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mahoba and Shravasti are the districts without any active case. None of the UP districts has reported fresh cases in double digits, while 20 reported fresh cases in single digit,” Yogi said.
He said 2.44 lakh Covid-19 tests were done in the past 24 hours across the state and only 42 tested positive for Covid while 91 patients recovered.
The 24-hour positivity rate in the state was 0.01% and the recovery rate 98.6%, he said.
None tests positive after contact tracing in Kanpur
The chief minister also referred to the state government’s intensive contact tracing of 22 Covid-19 cases that surfaced in Kanpur on Wednesday.
Yogi said a total of 1,400 contacts were traced and tested. None of them tested positive, he said.
He also said the vaccination drive was going on smoothly. So far, the state has administered a total of 4.67 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines, he said.
Yogi asks DMs to keep an eye on ambulance services
The chief minister also mentioned the ambulance services (the staff of the 102 and 108 ambulance services are on strike currently). He said all the patients who seek an ambulance must get one as per need. Under no circumstances, the patients or their kin must face any harassment or hardship, he said.
The district magistrates should keep an eye on the operation of ambulance services, he said. He reiterated: “In case of any unfortunate incident of death of any patient because of an ambulance not being provided, then those responsible are sure to face the strictest of action.”
