Covid wave hits UP bureaucracy hard

Lucknow | The Corona wave seems to have hit bureaucrats in Uttar Pradesh in a big way.

On a day when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath isolated himself after three members of his team tested Covid positive, at least 12 IAS officers in the state also contracted infection on Tuesday.

Prominent among them are additional chief secretary S.P. Goyal, a key member of the chief minister’s team, chairman, Board of Revenue, Deepak Trivedi, additional chief secretary (agriculture) Devesh Chaturvedi, additional chief secretary (urban development) Rajneesh Dubey, additional chief secretary (labour) Suresh Chandra.

Others who have tested positive for Covid-19 include additional chief secretary (higher education) Aradhana Shukla and her husband, retired IAS officer Pradeep Shukla. Secretary (finance) Sanjay Kumar also tested positive on Tuesday.

Besides, 20 officials in finance department are learnt to have contracted the virus as well.

Principal secretary (social welfare) B.L. Meena, principal secretary (food and civil supplies) Veena Kumari Meena, principal secretary (irrigation) Anil Garg, special secretary (external aided projects) Prashant Sharma, special secretary (appointments) Sanjay Singh, special secretary (appointments) Dhananjay Shukla and special secretary to chief minister Amit Singh and at least three district magistrates have also tested positive for Covid-19.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s OSD Abhishek Kaushik has also tested Covid positive.

Majority of the officials are in home isolation and are being treated by medical teams.

Among those who have succumbed to Covid in the past 24 hours, is Additional District Judge (ADJ) in Moradabad, Satya Prakash Dwivedi, who died on Tuesday.

Dwivedi was under treatment at a Covid facility at Teerthanker Mahaveer University in Moradabad.

IANS

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