CM Yogi meets thunderstorm victims at Agra hospital, promises aid

“We have no home to go back to.”

This was the most common complaint voiced before chief minister Yogi Adityanath when he visited the surgery ward of the SN Medical College Hospital on Saturday morning, two days after a sudden thunderstorm ravaged many parts of the state.

Adityanath had reached Agra just the previous night, after curtailing his election campaign in poll-bound Karnataka in view of the destruction wreaked by the weather phenomenon. He stayed the night at the Circuit House.

The chief minister interacted with patients admitted to the surgery ward, many of whom had been brought in from the rural belt of Agra, for about half an hour. He even expressed displeasure over a dirty bedsheet on one of the beds, and sought an explanation from medical college principal Dr Saroj Singh.

Around 34 people from various parts of Agra district were admitted to the hospital in the wake of the thunderstorm. As many as 73 people died in Uttar Pradesh alone over the last two days.

Six-month-old Divyanshi and her five-year-old cousin, Ashu, were among those visited by Adityanath at the hospital. He then interacted with Chandrabhan, a labourer from Baad village in Malpura area, who had come to attend on five injured members of his family. “We told the chief minister how a wall of a nearby house fell on the tin roof our residence on Wednesday night, demolishing it completely and injuring almost everybody. He has promised to help us,” said Chandrabhan.

Tight security arrangements were made at the surgery ward in view of Adityanath’s visit. Many wanted to interact with him, but were prevented from doing so for security reasons.

The chief minister later undertook an aerial survey of the affected villages. He then held a meeting with district officials before flying off to Kanpur, which was also ravaged by the thunderstorm.