Pune: Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis shared the dais in Pune at the inauguration of a COVID care centre in Baner on Friday. The duo was sharing the same stage after 279 days. The COVID centre has been installed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). This is the first hospital in the city set up by the corporation under CSR.

After the inauguration, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, “12,000 beds have been set up in Pune in this week. Out of the four new COVID Care Centres, this centre at Baner has the best facilities with high-quality features. After Naidu Hospital, COVID Care Centre will be designated especially for COVID-19.”

Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis expressed, “Preventive measures should be taken to overcome the novel coronavirus. COVID Care Centre such as Baner will prove viral until the vaccine arrives and the centre should expand.”

“Also, the testing in Maharashtra state is low, the number of testing should be increased,” he added.

Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said, "We are taking new measures to ensure that the health system should be as efficient as possible. There will be a separate hospital here. It will provide free ICU and oxygen to poor and needy patients which will help to bring down the mortality rate in Pune city.”

“The hospital is constructed on a five-acre land owned by the Municipal Corporation at Baner. It is planned to accommodate at least 800-900 patients,” informed Mohol.

The joint appearance of the two big leaders of the state was watched closely, which took place months after high drama in November 2019, when the duo came together to form the government in state but failed to gather support from the necessary number of MLAs.

Ajit Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis, Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, BJP state President Chandrakant Patil, chief representative of both the cities, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar, Additional Commissioner Rubal Agarwal, Municipal Corporation City Engineer Prashant Waghmare, Superintendent Engineer Yuvraj Deshmukh were present at the event.

The first Jumbo COVID Care Centre in Pune was inaugurated on Sunday by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.