UP has so far reported 1,978,388 cases of COVID-19. (File)
Allahabad:
Taking serious note of the surge in COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court observed on Tuesday that the measures taken to stem the spread are not sufficient.
A bench of judges Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar commented critically against the government’s efforts to contain the crisis after softening his remarks, saying he did not doubt “the government’s will” to curb it.
“We do not doubt the will of the government, but we are also aware that the measures taken are not sufficient and must be made more severe and more stringent, but of course also achievable at the same time,” observed the bench.
While giving various instructions to the state government, the bench, in one of his observations, also said: “When we have to find a balance between bread and butter and life, the latter must prevail.”
“Food is for life to survive and not the other way around. We don’t think a fortnight’s lockdown would bring the state economy to such a halt that people would starve to death,” the bench observed. , apparently suggesting the government. to impose another lockdown for fifteen days.
The bench ordered the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh to tell him if there was a plan of action to contain the infection when the economy was reopened after the national lockdown and if it was ever put implemented.
The court also asked the chief secretary if any action had been taken against district authorities who had not followed the plans, if there were any.
The bench was hearing a public interest lawsuit seeking better facilities in quarantine centers.
He also asked the chief secretary to come up with a roadmap to tackle the spread of the infection from now on by the next court date.
After giving its instructions to the government, the bench scheduled the next hearing on August 28.
The court on several occasions when hearing the case in the past had also issued various instructions to the government to verify the spread of the coronavirus in the state.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
