Maharashtra chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a national policy to avoid stop crowding at social, religious and political events. The State government has directed district collectors to stop crowding at tourist places and increase RT-PCR tests.
“The second wave of the corona pandemic is still affecting us all. The number of patients has come down but has not reduced completely. But not only in Maharashtra people are coming out, crowding under the name of revenge tourism or revenge shopping. People are gathering for religious and political reasons. The state is working to stop this but there needs to be a policy from central level for the same,” said Mr Thackeray. He was speaking at the video conference of Chief Ministers with Mr Modi.
Mr Thackeray also requested setting up of centres of excellence for the post-covid treatment. “Around eight to ten districts in the state are facing the high percentage of infection and these districts need to be vaccinated at the earliest. Maharashtra has received 87.90 lakh doses for these regions and if more three crore doses are given then population in these areas can be fully vaccinated,” said Mr Thackeray.
The Chief Minister also requested the central government to control prices of Monoclonal antibodies which cost ₹50,000 to 60,000 per dose.
Later in the day, Mr Thackeray held a meeting with all district collectors in the state instructing them to ensure that industrial cycle should continue even in case of third wave. “All districts must have a plan ready to keep industrial cycle running in case of third wave. Big companies to provide residential facilities within the campus and if not possible, field residential area near the industry to be set up. Point-to-point transport should be provided for workers,” he said.
The State government has issued strict instructions for those roaming on roads without mask. “We do not want to waste efforts taken till today to control the spread of the disease. Let’s be more careful in view of the third wave,” he said.