In what the opposition parties and some others alleged an attempt to 'hide' the number of Covid deaths in Lucknow, the administration on Thursday erected a temporary wall around the main crematorium in the city and barred 'unauthorised' people from entering the place after disturbing videos of scores of burning pyres went viral on social media.
According to the sources the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) ordered to erect a tin wall on three sides of the crematorium to prevent the people and the passers by from seeing the pyres.
Sources said that the people had to wait for several hours, in some cases even a day, to cremate their dead as there was no space at the cremation ground.
The officials said that the entry of 'unauthorised' people into the crematorium had been barred as the place was included in the ''Covid affected zone''.
As the videos of the burning pyres went viral on social media, the opposition leaders launched a scathing attack on the Yogi Adityanath government in the state and accused it of trying to 'hide' the number of deaths from Covid in the state capital.
''It is useless to waste resources and energy on hiding the numbers...it is better to take effective measures to save the lives of the people,'' Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that if the state government had established hospitals it would not have to cover the crematorium.
Lucknow was among the worst affected districts in UP. It reported over 5400 Covid cases on Thursday while the state reported over 22 thousand cases of Coronavirus.