PUNE: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar told TOI on Wednesday that the state government was yet to decide on lockdown following the spurt in Covid-19 cases and that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray would take the final call on it.
“Local authorities are deciding on restrictions according to the rise in cases but there has been no decision about the statewide lockdown yet although the chief minister expressed concern about the rise in cases and warned that lockdown might have to be enforced,” he said.
The deputy chief minister said the local authorities had been given the power to enforce stringent measures, depending on the rise in Covid cases. He said some cities had gone for restrictions in movement during the night hours, while a few went for weekend closures.
Ajit Pawar said restrictions should be in place as the cases were rising tremendously. He said the suburban trains were running in full capacity in Mumbai and it was a concern.
Regarding the curbs in Pune, the deputy chief minister said some restrictions were enforced last week and he would review the situation again this week. He said he was taking regular updates from the commissioners and collectors on the same.
Senior health officials are of the view that the local authorities should implement strict containment measures in marked zones.
Earlier, state health minister Rajesh Tope had expressed concern over the rising cases in the state. During his visit to Pune on Monday, he had said districts like Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai were recording a spurt in cases. He had said while Maharashtra was carrying out adequate tests, there was a possibility of other states not reporting daily Covid-19 cases accurately.
The Union health ministry on Wednesday stated that of the 10 districts in the country that were seeing a rise in cases, nine were from Maharashtra and one from Karnataka. The state’s nine districts are Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded, Jalgaon and Akola.