Have to decide on lockdown as situation getting worse: Maharashtra CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday indicated the imposition of a strict lockdown in the state given the alarming rise in COVID19 cases underlining the need to save the lives of people and clamping of strict restrictions to break the transmission chain of coronavirusSpeaking at an allparty meeting held virtually to discuss the COVID19 situation in the state the chief minister also said that his government will address the issues of the livelihood of poor labourers and dailywagersThe number of patients is increasing so fast that if we do not decide on a lockdown today a lockdownlike situation will automatically arise tomorrow Today the situation is getting worse We are also constantly considering COVID19 task force experts in the stateTo break the COVID transmission chain it is imperative that strict restrictions must be imposed for a certain period of time The first priority will be given to saving lives If this is a public health emergency then the priority will be health of citizens amp their livesmdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra April 10 2021On the one hand there is a public sentiment but on the other hand there is an outbreak of coronavirus in which case if you want to win this battle you have to go through some hardships a statement issued by the Chief Ministers Office CMO quoted him as sayingMaharashtras overall COVID19 case tally stood at 3343951 as on Saturday while the overall death toll is 57638 The state is now left with 536682 active casesThe meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar ministers Ashok Chavan Balasaheb Thorat Dilip Walse Patil Eknath Shinde Jayant Patil Rajesh Tope Amit Deshmukh along with state Congress president Nana Patole Leader of Opposition in Assembly Devendra Fadnavis Pravin Darekar state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and othersIn last years lockdown people were at home Hence tracing patients and most of their contacts was easier Now everything has opened up There are practical difficulties in doing somdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra April 10 2021Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte briefed the meeting about the prevailing situation in the state and the challenges faced by the state government to stem the spread of casesIf the coronavirus cycle is to be stopped strict restrictions will have to be imposed We have to prioritise saving lives first If this is a health emergency the priority should be the health and wellbeing of the citizens he said The CM said the suggestions made by the Leader of the Opposition Fadnavis will definitely be taken seriously They have come up with good suggestions he addedHe said the government will particularly act on the suggestions such as ensuring the availability of Remedisivir injections early receipt of test reports and necessary instruction to the laboratory besides the careful planning for ensuring availability of oxygenPeople were at home in the lockdown last year which made it easier to find patients and trace their contacts Now that everything is open the Centre should understand that there are practical difficulties in this the CM said Thackeray also underlined the need to expand the vaccination drive in the stateEveryone has agreed to ensure that the daily wage earners labourers and the working classes are not hit hard while imposing stricter measures Planning is underway to ensure thismdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra April 10 2021The UK has already had a strict lockdown for two months but during that time it protected citizens by launching a massive vaccination campaign The younger generation today needs to be vaccinated Pfizer plans to vaccinate children in the age group of 12 to 15 years he said It will be ensured that the poor and the working class people wont suffer while imposing strict restrictions the CM addedWe are also constantly considering the views of the task force experts I have been talking to people from different fields of life for the last few days Yesterday I spoke to directors of private hospitals Everyone is ready to cooperate with the state government he saidHe appealed to leaders cutting across the party lines to lend their support to whatever decision is taken keeping the health of the people of the state in mind Fadnavis said a unilateral lockdown will not work and if imposed it will cause unrest in people People had already suffered in the last year due to the lockdown the senior BJP leader said adding all sections of the society need to be taken into confidenceOn one hand there is public sentiment and on the other the Corona pandemic In this situation we will have to bear some hardship to win this battlemdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra April 10 2021While Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he would hold a meeting on Monday on working out a financial package for the sections whose livelihood will be impacted his colleague Ashok Chavan said the nature scope and duration of the lockdown will be finalised soonThe BJP feels a lockdown is necessary but the government should first work out a financial package for the people who will be affected state unit president Chandrakant Patil saidMaharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said his party was in support of whatever decision the CM takes However Congress wants the lockdown to be less problematic unlike the last year We support a financial package for the affected population The Opposition said that a financial package should be announced first he saidPatole blamed the rise in coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra on the poor supply of vaccines State PWD Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan said the state governments priority is to save the lives and livelihood of the people Senior NCP leader and minister Nawab Malik said the CM will hold talks with the state COVID19 task force on Sunday before taking a decisionBy prioritising the health of the people of the state I appeal to all party leaders to extend their full cooperation to the decisions taken by the state governmentmdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra April 10 2021There is unanimity among the leaders who attended the meeting today that a lockdown or strict restrictions are necessary to break the coronavirus transmission chain The government will also consider providing a financial package to daily wagers as well as to the people whose livelihood will get affected due to the lockdown The meeting was held to arrive at a consensus on steps to be taken he told reportersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever