Yogi orders withdrawal of all cases of Pandemic Act in UP

Yogi said the state has administered a total of 100.91 million Covid vaccination doses so far and there was no active case of infection in 31 districts of the state, while 21 had only one active case each

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday instructed for withdrawal of all cases filed in the state under the Pandemic Act for violation of Covid-19 containment protocols and said it was in the larger public interest. He also sought a list of tainted police personnel such as those involved in irregular activities or with poor service records, saying they will also face stringent action.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath also sought a list of tainted police personnel such as those involved in irregular activities or with poor service records, saying they will also face stringent action. (AP)

Yogi asked the home department to act on both the instructions during a Covid-19 review meeting on Sunday.

Yogi said the state has administered a total of 100.91 million Covid vaccination doses so far and there was no active case of infection in 31 districts of the state, while 21 had only one active case each. In the 173,000 tests done in the last 24 hours, a total of 66 districts did not report any fresh cases of Covid-19, while a total of 13 cases were recorded in the rest of the nine districts. The state currently has 159 active Covid cases.

The chief minister’s instruction to identify tainted police officers comes in the backdrop of the sensational case of alleged murder of a Kanpur businessman in Gorakhpur by a group of policemen. The incident has invited widespread criticism of the state’s police force.

In a related development on Saturday, CM Yogi Adityanath sought an explanation from 31 district magistrates (DM) and 24 district police chiefs, who were reportedly found absent in their offices or public hearing programmes, a news agency quoted a senior government official as saying. On the instructions of the chief minister, a reality check was carried out between 10 am and 12 noon on Friday, during which the district magistrates and police chiefs were found absent. The chief minister, who held a review meeting with senior officials on Saturday, warned that strict action will be taken if such a situation recurs in future.