Shri Yogi Adityanath, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, LUCKNOW.
Respected Chief Minister,
Indian Journalists Union (IJU), the premier organisation of media persons in the country, wishes you a speedy recovery from the Covid-19 virus attack.
The IJU take this opportunity to bring to your attention the terrible state of affairs in Covid-19 management as the second wave hits UP and the dreaded pandemic shockingly killed more than half a dozen Journalists in Uttar Pradesh said to be due to shortage of medical facilities.
Shortage of ventilators, oxygen cylinders and hospital beds has led to the death of journalists in Lucknow in the past 10 days, the Journalists Unions from U.P reported. All these scribes had to struggle for hours to get admitted to the hospitals after they developed Covid-19 virus symptoms. Some of them arranged for oxygen cylinders on their own but could not get the ventilator support.
Sachidanand Gupta of ‘Jadeed Amal’, an Urdu newspaper, passed away on April 14 because he could not get ventilator support on time. Vinay Srivastava, a veteran journalist, kept tweeting to you and your media advisors for medical assistance as his oxygen levels kept going down, but help came only after he passed away.
Tavishi Srivastava, the political editor of ‘Pioneer’, could not get admitted to a hospital after she complained of breathless. For hours on April 18, her colleagues tried to arrange for an oxygen cylinder and medical aid. Finally, a senior journalist from Delhi managed to get her admitted to the King George’s Medical University, but it was already too late as she passed away hours later. Pawan Mishra, a young journalist, died two days ago. His family said that he needed ventilator support but never got one.
Ankit Shukla, 32, died earlier this week of Covid-19 virus while Waseem left for another world on April 21. Pramod Srivastava, 48, the newly elected member of the UP State Accredited Journalist Committee 2021, elections for which were held on March 21, died last month due to the virus attack.
At present at least a dozen Journalists are infected and battling for better medical facilities. More than 20 family members of scribes are also hospitalised currently.
Journalists’ Unions in U.P have urged you that beds should be reserved for scribes recognizing them as Corona warriors. The President of U.P State Accredited Correspondents’ Committee, Hemant Tiwari, had written to you seeking compensation for Journalists who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 attack.
I, therefore, request you to take all steps on war footing to provide medical help to the Journalists affected by Covid-19 as most of them are frontline warriors reporting from the Covid-19 hotspots in Uttar Pradesh.
G. Prabhakaran, Secretary General, IJU, New Delhi, April 22, 2021.