As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps Maharashtra, the political parties and leaders seem to be divided over the lockdown even as the business community has slammed the move.
The emerging situation and the lockdown roadmap prepared by the various departments – as asked by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray – would be discussed in the next weekly Cabinet meeting.
On Sunday, Thackeray has asked various departments of the government to strategically plan for a lockdown as people are still not following the Covid-appropriate behaviour of wearing masks, sanitizing and washing hands and maintaining social/physical distancing.
The BJP has vehemently opposed the lockdown. “We are going to oppose lockdown tooth and nail…if the government wants to go in for a lockdown, they may, but people should be given a relief package first,” said state BJP President Chandrakant Patil.
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi too seems to have divergent opinions on the lockdown. “We can’t afford another lockdown. We have asked the chief minister to consider other options. If people follow rules, it can be avoided,” said NCP chief spokesperson and state’s Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik, a close aide of party supremo Sharad Pawar.
However, state Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajesh Tope said, “Lockdown is the last option. Over the last one month, the CM has been appealing to people to follow norms and SOPs, however, if needed we may have to go for it.”
The business community too is divided which was evident after Mahindra Group chief Anand Mahindra’s tweet, in which he said: “The problem is that the people, a lockdown hurts most are the poor, migrant workers & small businesses. The original lockdowns were essential to buy time to build up hospital/health infrastructure. Let’s focus on resurrecting that and on avoiding mortality.”
The hospitality sector too is up in arms.
“The 8 pm to 7 am closure deadline for restaurants, which are already operating with 50% seating capacity, is nothing but a death knell for many restaurants which have somehow survived last year’s lockdown. We don’t see any logic in this latest time restrictions as there has been no proven research on the increase in the spread of Covid-19 during the night,” Shivanand Shetty, President, AHAR said.