The Uttar Pradesh government has banned strikes across the state for six months ahead of assembly polls 2022. This is not the first time, a similar order was issued in May this year where strikes were banned for six months in view of the coronavirus pandemic through the Essential Services Maintenance Act or ESMA.
The notice was issued by the Additional Chief Secretary Dr Devesh Kumar Chaturvedi on Sunday, December 19. The order said that all strikes including public service, corporations and local authorities that deal with the matters of the state shall be banned and those who defy orders shall be punished and legal action will be taken against them.
The ESMA Act issued in ay basically allows a state government to take action against employees who refuse to follow rules and go on strikes that affect essential services. There is a provision for imprisonment that may extend for about a year or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both.
On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh recorded 23 fresh cases of COVID-19.
Dr Abhishek Shukla, Secretary-General, Association of International Doctors said, “The test positivity rate (TPR) in the past 24 hours was is 0.012% with a total of 1,88,560 samples tested (in 24 hours) and 23 of them were found Covid positive.”
As per state data, 189 active COVID-19 cases were recorded on Saturday and 164 on Friday.
