Maharashtra minister adds to Unlock chaos, wrongly announces relaxations for 18 districts

Adding to the lockunlock chaos on Thursday a senior cabinet minister jumped the gun apparently without getting a nod from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Vijay Wadettiwarrsquos announcement of completely unlocking 18 districts in Maharashtra from Friday was reversed but not before it caused confusion and revealed a lack of coordination between the government departmentsA woman shops at a shop selling nonessentials in Dadar on Tuesday PicAshish RajeIn a dramatic turn of events Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Wadettiwar made the announcement of completely unlocking 18 districts from Friday based on their dipping test positivity rate TPR and availability of more oxygen beds He said that a fivelevel unlocking will be applicable where districts falling under Level 1 will be unlocked completely followed by others getting comparatively less or no relaxations He said that Mumbai was in Level 2 while Thane in Level 1 Wadettiwar made the announcement after a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority SDMA which discussed all possibilities of unlocking Thackeray and his deputy Ajit Pawar were also present at the meetingAlso Read Covid19 Mumbairsquos doubling rate hits 500 daysThe decision was rolled back apparently at the behest of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who wanted a thorough review before taking a final call Thackeray had earlier extended the curbs till June 15 Officially the SDMA recommendations are referred to the CM and chief secretary who issued the final order Still under considerationldquoThe decision is still under consideration The restrictions havenrsquot been liftedrdquo said a statement released by the statersquos publicity department ldquoThe relaxation will be decided in view of the severity of the mutated virus and growing infection in some rural areas Under the Break the Chain programme some relaxations have been given but for proceeding further the disaster management has decided five categories on the basis of weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds The decision if any will be announced officially through a government notificationrdquo the statement saidMinisterrsquos declarationEarlier in the day Congressrsquos Wadettiwar told a media conference that 18 districts with a TPR of 5 per cent and less including Thane will have no curbs Districts with the lowest positivity rate will have no restrictions he saidDistricts falling under the five levels were to be reviewed every week and moved up and down based on the number of casesThe minister had said that Level 1 districts were to see restaurants malls shops and public places reopening Offices gyms were to reopen Aurangabad Bhandara Buldhana Chandrapur Dhule Gadchiroli Gondia Jalgaon Jalna Latur Nagpur Nanded Nashik Yavatmal Washim Wardha Parbhani and Thane fell under Level 1 he had saidLevel 2 districts were to operate partially with gyms salons beauty parlours functioning at 50 per cent occupancy Districts in Level 3 4 and 5 were to have more restrictionsInprinciple approval WadettiwarWadettiwar who was on a Nagpurbound plane when the CMO acted said on his arrival that the decision he announced was given in principle approval by SDMA ldquoCM and Deputy Chief Minister were there in the meetingrdquo he said adding that the CM would make a final announcement However he did remind that the government shouldnrsquot be enforcing lockdowns but giving relief to the people He added ldquoPerhaps I forgot to mention the in principle point during the conference earlier in a hurry Final decision is expected on Friday morningrdquoBJP slams govtOpposition leader in the legislative assembly Devendra Fadnavis said there was no way to know what was shut and open ldquoIf it is open where is it If it is open till when will it berdquo he said while also questioning if a press conference or press release was authentic ldquoIs it immaturity or claiming the creditrdquo he said