Published 10:14 IST, May 24th 2020
Maharashtra govt slams Centre over reopening airports; argues it's 'extremely ill-advised'
Even as Centre has announced that domestic air travel will resume from May 25, Maharashtra's Home Minister on Sunday said that it is an 'extremely ill-advised'
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Even as Centre has announced that domestic air travel will resume from May 25, Maharashtra's Home Minister on Sunday said that it is an 'extremely ill-advised' decision. Taking to Twitter, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that if airports are in red zone then 'mere thermal scanning is inadequate without swabs.' He also opposed the plying of autos, cabs and buses in the red zones, adding that it will increase the Covid stress.
His remarks come a day after state's Principal Secretary, Bhushan Gagrani, informed that the Uddhav-Thackeray led government has not amended its lockdown order dated May 19 and therefore, air travel continues to be restricted.
Its extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scanning of passengers inadequate w/o swabs. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add Covid stress to red zone.#MaharashtraGovtCares
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) May 23, 2020
Getting passengers to come from a green zone to a red one putting them to risk of exposure doesn't make sense.
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) May 23, 2020
Keeping a busy airport up & running with all Covid-safety measures will need huge staff presence and compound risk in the red zone.#PlanningOverAdHocism
Centre's decision on flight services
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, revealed that by August-September, a 'good percentage' of international flights will begin operation. He added that he is aiming to start international flights from mid-June. He had also announced that domestic flights will resume services from May 25 after which the AiIrports Authority of India (AAI) issued guidelines for the same. The Civil Aviation Ministry also said that there will be new fare structure to keep flight travel affordable. A number of states have since issued their own SOPs for arrivals.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally
Maharashtra again breached its earlier single-highest one-day COVID-19 tally after 2,940 persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday, May 22. While there are 44,582 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the state, the number of active cases stands at 30,474. 857 COVID-19 patients were discharged in the day, taking the number of recovered to 12,583. 63 deaths.
So far, 1,517 deaths have been recorded in Maharashtra. A total of 3,32,777 laboratory samples have been collected until now. There are 1,949 active containment zones in Maharashtra currently. Surveillance of 66.32 lakh population has been undertaken by 16,154 surveillance squads. While 4,69,279 persons are under home quarantine, 28,430 others have been admitted to institutional quarantine centres.
10:14 IST, May 24th 2020