A district magistrate in Uttar Pradesh has appealed to people for donations to fight the Covid crisis, sparking anger at a time citizens are grappling with lack of oxygen, hospital beds and medicines, crematoriums have been overflowing and businesses have been dealt a body blow because of strict restrictions.
In a message under his letterhead, Ashutosh Niranjan, the district magistrate of Deoria, has stated: “We appeal to all the residents of Deoria district that those who want to donate/help the administration, can submit cheque/bank draft in the office of the undersigned or can deposit in the bank account mentioned below. This amount would be spent in the treatment of Covid patients and procurement of other medical items.”
The letter mentions a bank account in the name of the “District Social Responsibility Committee”.
The appeal, besides being termed insensitive at a time the pandemic has been claiming many lives in a disaster of unprecedented proportions, appears to run counter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s repeated claims that there is no shortage of anything required in the treatment of Covid.
The BJP leader had said in Lucknow on Tuesday: “There is no scarcity of anything in the state. We are fighting the pandemic with the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is providing us everything.”
DM Niranjan’s letter, issued on May 10, was also posted on his Twitter handle.
The Telegraph tried to contact Niranjan to ask why he issued such an appeal at such an inopportune moment but his phone was either busy or kept ringing.
A source at the home department in Lucknow said: “The DMs have been asked to | involve people in Covid management in whatever way | they find suitable. At some places, the DMs have formed committees of people to coordinate with Covid patients so that their needs are smoothly addressed.
“The DM of Deoria must have thought of involving people by asking for donations. We have come to know that people are donating amounts as low as Rs 101, which is very
good. The idea is to create a sense of belonging, and not to generate funds.”
Such a sentiment was not shared by a large number of people, social media replies to the DM’s Twitter post revealed.
Brijesh Singh Kushwaha, an engineer, wrote on Twitter: “You people have again started begging so that you can fill the stomachs of VIPs. What arrangements have been made in Rudrapur, Barhaj, Salempur and Bhatpar Rani in Deoria district? People are dying every day as there are no medicines, doctors, ambulances and oxygen.”
Another Twitter user, R. Srikant, wrote: “Hope @Amit¬ Shah ji donates enough money from @BJP4India party fund if the UP govt treasury has run out of money. Or maybe, @HardeepSPuri ji will release money from the Vanity Vista project to save lives of fellow Indians.”
Puri, the Union minister for aviation, housing and urban affairs, had criticised the Congress for questioning the government’s move to push ahead with the Central Vista construction and beautification project in the capital amid the pandemic and said: “The cost of Central Vista is about Rs 20,000 crore over several years.”
Several Twitter users asked what was being done with the PM CARES Fund that had been instituted to battle the pandemic.
One Shakeel Ahamed tweeted: “Giving and taking help is fine but India is getting huge help from across the world. There is also the PM CARES Fund…. Where is that money, sir? Meanwhile, 65% of the population lives in villages where there are no facilities.”
Shashank Baranwal, a mechanical engineer and businessman, said there were no earnings because of the lockdown and asked how people would provide any help. He alleged that none had come to the rescue of shopkeepers and retailers, but they were now being asked for money instead.
