UP BJP prepares booklet on effective COVID-19 management to counter opposition

New Delhi: The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is preparing a five-page booklet on the ‘effective COVID-19 management’, and asked party workers to reach out to people about the state’s efforts to mitigate the crisis.

UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai said that the five-page booklet would help BJP party workers answer questions about the state administration’s handling of the pandemic.

"The opposition has been spreading canards on the issue of the pandemic. The work done by the government and the party needs to be publicized at the grassroots level. The information includes all that we have done for the people in the pandemic, right down to the village level. We have a lot of achievements on the national level and, at times, we tend to overlook the achievements of the state," he said.

The booklet, titled "Corona Prabandhan ka UP Model", has 20 sections and each section contains three bullet points.

This document will have all the information about the steps which the authorities took to tackle the second wave of COVID-19. The booklet lists out several steps including doorstep screening, treatment, aggressive testing drives, vaccination, oxygen conservation, formation of the Team 9 response group, preparations for the possible third wave, and the active involvement of state’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 

This booklet is being designed by the UP government to help BJP workers counter the opposition’s allegations on ‘ineffective’ COVID-19 management. 

As per the booklet, more than 5.6 crore coronavirus tests were conducted in the state, which is more than 30 percent of its population. The government claims it increased oxygen supply from 250 metric tonnes to 1,000 metric tonnes per day, following the oxygen scarcity.

The five-page booklet also underlines the fact that the Yogi-government in the state relaxed the COVID-induced curbs for industrial units during the corona curfew and provided compensation to labourers.

All office-bearers, senior leaders, legislators, ministers, spokespersons and grassroots workers of the party have been sent this booklet and they have been asked to reach out to the people. 

It will help the BJP workers tackle the allegations made by the opposition that the government mishandled the pandemic during the second COVID-19 wave, which was in the month of April and May. 

The Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress had attacked the state government over "oxygen shortage and bed unavailability in hospitals" and accused it of manipulating the actual toll.

Additionally, visuals of over-burdened crematoriums and dead bodies on the banks of the Ganga were widely shared on social media.