Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), May 30 (IANS): After the Eidgah and the Chhota Imambara in Lucknow, it is now the sugar mills in western Uttar Pradesh that are turning into Covid vaccination centres.

Eight vaccination centres have come up in eight sugar mills in Muzaffarnagar alone.

The local administration is using the record of cane farmers registered with the mill to reach out to them through SMS.

The service is usually used to disseminate information during the crushing season but it is now being used to invite farmers for vaccination.

According to Amit Singh, additional district magistrate, "Sugar mills have contact details of each farmer and it helps to reach out to them for vaccination. We send SMSs and ask the farmer to come on a fixed date and time at the sugar mill concerned for vaccination."

Besides this, the administration has started vaccination camps at villages.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Sadar area, Deepak Kumar said, "Not only vaccination but we are also conducting tests to detect Covid positive people in the rural area. The administration has also deployed vehicles to ferry the elderly to the vaccination centres."