Ballia (UP), Jun 28 (IANS): Ram Iqbal Singh, former MLA and member of the UP BJP working committee, has criticised the handling of the Covid crisis in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh said that, at least, 10 people died in every village during the second wave because no lessons were learnt from the first one.

Ram Iqbal Singh is the latest among the party's own leaders who have questioned the management of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Talking to reporters here, Singh said that the health department did not learn any lessons from the first wave of Covid which led to a large number of deaths due to the disease in the second wave.

The BJP leader also demanded that Rs 10 lakh be given to the kin of those who have succumbed to the infection.

He further regretted that even after 75 years of freedom, Ballia that has a population of 34 lakh, has no doctors or medicines.

When asked that chief minister Yogi Adityanath, during his visit to Ballia, had expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made by the health department, Singh said the officials had misled the chief minister.