Uddhav: Relaxation of Covid restraints is ‘calculated risk’
Says local admin will take decisions on whether to ease curbs or tighten them
Uddhav Thackeray-led government on Sunday said that the state government is taking a “calculated risk” by relaxing the Coronavirus-induced restrictions in the state.
The Maharashtra government had announced to unlock the restrictions from Monday based on the weekly positivity rate and the occupancy of oxygen beds in districts. Thackeray said that people need to take care of themselves.
On the eve of the unlocking the restrictions, the Chief Minister held a meeting with all the district collectors, divisional commissioners and municipal commissioners. Earlier in the day, Thackeray also held a virtual meeting with leading industrialists.
During the meeting with industrialists, the Chief Minister said, “The state government is taking a calculated risk and hence people have to take care of themselves. Nothing is going to be eased immediately. Some criteria and levels have been fixed and the local administration will take decisions on whether to ease restrictions and further tighten them.”
Prominent among those who participated in the meeting included Uday Kotak, Sanjiv Bajaj, B. Thiyagrajan, Naushad Forbes, Amit Kalyan, Ashok Hinduja, A.N. Subramanyam, Ajay Piramal, Harsh Goenka, Niranjan Hiranandani.
Thackeray also said that he wanted to show the country that industries in Maharashtra are working while taking precautions during the pandemic.
In a meeting with the district and divisional administration on Sunday evening, Thackeray instructed the district collectors and divisional commissioners that crowding and violation of Covid appropriate behavior would not be tolerated.
He directed the bureaucrats to ensure there is no crowding and violation of Covid-19 norms anywhere in the state. The easing of restrictions based on the criteria of positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy under the ‘Break the Chain’ restrictions has to be decided by the local administration considering the ground situation. It has to be ensured that under no level, there is crowding in public gatherings, the Chief Minister said.
He also said that the threat of the Coronavirus is still continuing and therefore the restrictions would not be ended immediately.
He also left the decision over easing the curbs on the local administration after considering the situation of their respective areas.
His statement comes in the wake of the government’s announcement about the five-level plan to relax the restrictions in the state from Monday as per the weekly positivity rate and the occupancy of oxygen beds in a particular administrative unit. A notification about it had been issued late on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Nagpur may be in category one of the Maharashtra government’s five-level plan to ease Coronavirus-induced restrictions from Monday based on positivity rates and oxygen bed occupancy but several curbs would remain in order to contain the outbreak, state minister Nitin Raut said on Sunday.