An official said that austerity measures like major cuts to fuel usage and foreign travel and a ban on the procurement of new government vehicles have been announced for government officials, while the people have also been directed to follow strict austerity measures in the wake of a mounting economic crisis

In an editorial published in the party mouthpiece Saamana on Saturday, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party alleged that the growing reliance on publicly funded handouts for electoral purposes was weakening democratic institutions and undermining public accountability