Country will have to adopt Maharashtra model: Raut
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the country will have to adopt ‘Maharashtra model’ to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The Sena MP said the people in the country are not getting guidance from those in power. He further said that chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray has been demanding that the Prime Minister (PM) notify the pandemic as a natural calamity — the line now adopted by the Supreme Court.
The Sena leader said that though attempts were made to defame the state for its handling of Covid-19, the Maharashtra model will have to be adopted by all. “People are in a state of panic and shock, they do not know what is happening; they are not given proper guidance. The manner in which the Maharashtra government and its administration is working, the country will have to follow the Maharashtra model. You tried hard to defame Maharashtra [over handling Covid] but if there is a place where the best work is taking place in the times of Covid-19, it is in Maharashtra,” Raut said.
Earlier this month, CM Thackeray wrote to PM Narendra Modi that the Centre should declare it a natural calamity so that the state can access funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Raut said the situation in the country is dreadful and there is no guidance from the top [Centre], while the Thackeray government is steering the situation well. Raut said that
Thackeray was the first to demand that the pandemic be called a natural calamity. “Today even the courts are backing it. Looking at the situation today, it is a national calamity. We are indebted to the Supreme Court, but chief minister has been telling this to the PM and home minister to declare it a natural
calamity,” he said. “The courts and the Supreme Court have now become active [on Covid]. It seems like Covid-19 has reached their homes and courts. I consider the concern of the courts legitimate. The manner in which the courts are now active, it will definitely help the country,” he said.