Published 15:23 IST, April 26th 2020
Uddhav Thackeray declares 'Won't resume trains in Maharashtra', adds 'lockdown is working'
Addressing the citizens of Maharashtra as cases in Coronavirus (COVID-19), CM Uddhav Thackeray, on Sunday, declared that train services will not be resumed
Addressing the citizens of Maharashtra as cases in Coronavirus (COVID-19), CM Uddhav Thackeray, on Sunday, declared that train services will not be resumed in the state as it will lead to crowding. Assuring migrant labourers that the Maharashtra government is in talks with Centre and other state government to arrange for their return to their homes, he said that he will not allow special trains to be run, fearing crowds. Currently, Maharashtra tops India in the number of COVID cases with 7628 cases and 323 deaths.
CM Uddhav Thackeray: 'Trains will not run'
"The migrant labourers who wish to go home - we will get a solution soon, working with other states and Centre. But trains won't work as we don't want crowds. Then we will have to put restrictions again," he said in his video conference.
Addressing all Muslim citizens he urged them to celebrate Ramzan from home and affirmed that 'God was present everywhere, especially in COVID warriors'. He also stated that the state was not hiding any COVID-19 data from the Centre's IMCT, as there was no need as such. He requested others to not indulge in petty politics amid the pandemic.
"I request my Muslim brother to pray at home. At this point, God is everywhere. We can see god when we look at police personnel, at doctors," he said adding, "I pay my tribute to two police constable who lost their lives who was infected with COVID-19. I again request everyone to respect police personnel who are working day and night leaving back their family."
Thackeray: 'PM will take care of India, we must take care of state'
Talking about the continued lockdown in Maharashtra, he said that the lockdown has been eased in several rural areas, jump-starting economic activities. He reaffirmed that the lockdown has been successful in our country rather than other countries, but said that this was a war of patience. He added that one must be alert for the next 5-6 months, ready for the second wave of the virus.
"PM Modi will look after our country, but we have to take care of our state. Now it is a situation where we can see 80% are asymptomatic and 20% is divided into three - low, medium and high. Tomorrow I’m going to share my views with PM Modi tomorrow via Video Conference and am informing about our experiments done in Maharashtra," he said.
Maharashtra partially opens 'orange & green zones'
On Sunday, CM Uddhav Thackeray announced that the state government will partially resumption of economic activities from April 20 in Green and Orange zones. However, the government had to rollback the partial relaxation in Pune and Mumbai as COVID cases soared. With the railways shutting down its services on March 22 marking 'Janta Curfew', the Maharashtra government extended a state-wide curfew, before PM Modi's nationwide curfew till May 3. Currently, the Maharashtra government has stated that there was no possibility of lifting the lockdown in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the Pune Metropolitan Region after May 3, when the national lockdown is set to end.
Updated 15:23 IST, April 26th 2020