Dy CM Ajit Pawar & Fadnavis inaugrate Pune COVID hospital; ex-CM says 'situation worrying'

Continuing his sojourn across the state to review Coronavirus (COVID-19), ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis, and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Friday, inaugurated a COVID-19 Hospital at Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune district. Addressing the event, Fadnavis said that the COVID-19 situation is worrisome but lauded that Pune had increased testing achieving recovery rate to 85%. He also advised that Maharashtra must keep its momentum to bring down the fatality to 1%. 

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Fadnavis & Pawar inaugrate COVID hospital

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Fadnavis tours Maharashtra

In a bid to know the ground reality about COVID-19 situation, Fadnavis completed a three-day tour visiting Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivali, Mira Bhayander, Ulhasnagar and Panvel in July. Prior to that, Fadnavis toured north Maharashtra, Marathwada, Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurangabad. While CM Uddhav Thackeray has refrained from moving away from Mumbai except on some occasions, the ruling parties have questioned the reason behind Fadnavis' extensive visits. The former CM has defended it saying that it is part of an exercise to reach out to people “reeling under hardships” and travelled to Delhi to brief PM Modi on it.

Uddhav Thackeray slams Fadnavis' 'Maharashtra tour' of COVID areas, says 'Use technology'

Apart from this, Fadnavis visited Nagpur to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in August. He has also visited Satara, Pune and met with district collectors to know what facilities are needed in the area. He has repeatedly asked Maharashtra govt to enhance RT-PCR capacity, set up a health center in such areas. Recently in a 48-minute interview with Sena mouthpiece Saamana, CM Thackeray said that one must use technology rather than wasting time roaming around the state.

Ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis reviews Nagpur's COVID-19 situation, demands ramping of testing

Fadnavis & Ajit Pawar

Fadnavis had unsuccessfully partnered with Ajit Pawar to be sworn-in as Maharashtra CM for mere 72 hours. Ajit Pawar rescinded his support after the Supreme Court ordered an open ballot floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly immediately, leading to Fadnavis and Pawar's resignation.  Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28 after Shiv Sena allied with  NCP-Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The BJP-Sena alliance of 35 years fell out over a 50-50 power-sharing and shared CM post, post winning the Maharashtra State polls.