Rift in MVA again over easing curbs
Congress minister announces 5-phase Covid ‘unlock’ in Maha, Uddhav’s office denies it
The conflict among Maharashtra’s ruling parties was again out in the open after the chief minister’s office disapproved the announcement made by a Congress minister regarding withdrawal of lockdown.
Senior Congress leader and Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Thursday held a press conference and declared the withdrawal of lockdown in 18 out of 36 districts from Friday.
Within an hour after Mr Wadettiwar’s announcement, Maharashtra chief minister’s office (CMO) issued a statement stating that curbs have not been withdrawn. “A proposal in this connection with unlock is under consideration. The decision is yet to be taken,” the statement said.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday held a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority through video conferencing.
Subsequently, Mr Wade-ttiwar said that the state government has decided to “unlock” 18 districts of the state, where the positivity rate of Covid is less than five per cent. The state has planned to lift the restrictions in five phases.
However, in a statement, the CMO said, “We have not prevented the spread of coronavirus infection completely as yet. The infection is increasing in some rural parts of the state. Considering the deadly coronavirus and mutations in it, it is necessary to decide whether the curbs should be relaxed or not. The restrictions imposed in the state are yet to be lifted.”
The decision on relaxing restrictions is under consideration and no decision has been taken, the chief minister’s office said.