Maharashtra Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold back-to-back meetings on Sunday to “build consensus for more restrictions.” The CM will meet with film and series producers and directors around noon, while the second meeting will take place with industrialists and companies around 1 pm. Several big names have recently been infected, including Akshay Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar, Bappi Lahiri, and Robert Vadra.
While Thackeray has been considering a lockdown for some time and has issued several warnings of a ‘lockdown-like’ situation, his two allies, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have opposed blocking the state. Billionaire businessman Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mumbai-based conglomerate Mahindra Group, had also said a shutdown would hurt “the poor, migrant workers and small businesses.” Instead, he urged the prime minister to focus on building hospitals and healthcare infrastructure and avoiding Covid-related deaths.
Sources told News18 that the Maharashtra government is considering a shutdown. They have indicated that stricter rules may apply after the 3pm cabinet meeting. Thackeray had said in the last televised speech: “Take this as a warning that you could impose a complete lockdown in the next few days if things remain the same.”
What can you expect from the Thackeray meeting today?
• Multiplex cinemas, gyms, health clubs and movie theaters may close or there may be an additional limit on visitors, as Thackeray had told the owners of these facilities that he might have to take some strict measures as the situation in Maharashtra it’s bleak.
• The blockade option cannot yet be ruled out, as the prime minister says he is aware that his businesses had just started to get back on track, but at this point the state has to prioritize lives. Thackeray said his current priority is in the following order: “Zindagi, jaan, uske baad kaam (life and then sustenance).”
• TO Times of India They inform senior officials that they stated the following, the state was considering closing shopping malls, movie theaters, gyms and religious venues, and that warrants will be issued within the next two days. Specific restrictions are also likely to be announced for the top eight districts that have the highest number of cases in the state and are also driving Covid-19 numbers nationally.
• Limiting the number of guests during weddings and public events may also be an option. A sense of complacency seems to have settled in after being locked in their homes for nearly a year, many attending large weddings and family functions and beginning to visit crowded markets.
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