The Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray in his address today said that his government may ask the central government for central forces in case they require to control the coronavirus crisis. This would give the state police some rest, he said, clarifying that “it will be done only if needed”.
“I want to ask the Centre if there is any way we can get central backing so our police force can take breaks and then get back on the job. If such a time comes up, we would like to ask the Centre for help. Please don’t equate it to calling the Army. This is only so that our police force gets some break so that they can get some rest and return on the job. We are not making any exemptions, concessions in containment zones within red zones, he said.
Police force is under tremendous pressure. If we need more forces we will ask for central forces in order to give some rest to our police. But that will not mean that army has been called. It will be done only if needed: Maharashtra CM
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2020
No success yet in breaking virus chain, admits Uddhav Thackeray
“For the lockdown to be successful, we need to follow the rules. We have managed the lockdown well but we haven’t managed to break the chain as yet. Soon we will also have students, Indians stuck in other countries returning and we have to be prepared for that too. I need your support for it,” he added.
Uddhav Thackeray rules out rumours of the army being deployed in Mumbai
However, Uddhav Thackeray ruled out the rumours of the army being deployed in Mumbai to tackle the crisis. “There has been a rumour for the past 2-3 days that the army will be deployed in Mumbai. There is no need for army deployment here. Whatever I’ve done till today I’ve done by informing citizens. You all should be disciplined & that will be enough. No need to call the army here”, said Thackeray confirming that until now, Maharashtra has around 18,000 positive cases of COVID-19. “This is a huge number”, said the Maharashtra CM.
There has been a rumour for the past 2-3 days that army will be deployed in Mumbai.There is no need for army deployment here.Whatever I’ve done till today I’ve done by informing citizens. You all should be disciplined&that will be enough. No need to call army here: Maharashtra CM pic.twitter.com/d8kINFjKqT
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2020
Rumours claiming that Mumbai will be under ‘military lockdown’ for 10 days due to Coronavirus
Earlier in the day, a contentious video uploaded by a Youtube channel named Tech9587 had claimed that military lockdown would be imposed in the city of Mumbai between May 8 and May 17. The man in the video alleged that there is a positive case of the Wuhan Coronavirus, in every nook and corner of the city, due to people violating lockdown rules in the name of grocery shopping.
The video further claimed that if Mumbai was not shut down completely, then, cases in the country might rise up to a whopping 1 crore.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) took to Twitter to debunk the misleading claims made in the above-mentioned video. Labelling the information about “military lockdown” as fake, PIB reiterated that no army or navy personnel have been deployed for the maintenance of law and order situation in the city of Mumbai.
Though this video was fake, it is true that there is a growing sentiment among the informed classes that Army deployment in the slums of Dharavi and Govandi is needed to save Mumbai as Uddhav Thackeray government seems to be failing in handling the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition government’s inability to get its act together even after months has put the city of Mumbai at grave risk.
Uddhav Thackeray shunts BMC commissioner amid raging coronavirus crisis
As the financial capital of the country continues to reel under the raging crisis of coronavirus outbreak, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state has shunted the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Praveen Pardeshi to urban development.
The move came amidst an intensifying bout of coronavirus crisis in Mumbai where the number of COVID-19 cases is growing at an alarming rate. Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, has also emerged as the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in the state, with the city alone registering a staggering 11,394 cases and 437 fatalities.
The rejig in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) amidst the rising coronavirus crisis in Mumbai is a scathing indictment of the sham “Worli Koliwada containment model”.
A few weeks ago, many Shiv Sena members, including Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi, made dubious assertions to tout “Worli Koliwada Model” as a perfect containment model to be replicated elsewhere across the country to stem the spread of the virus. However, the repeated and continuous increase in the number of coronavirus patients reported in the city punctured the lofty claims made by the Shiv Sena leaders, who were accused of running a PR campaign to cover their inadequacies and failures.
Uddhav Thackeray’s ‘best CM’ PR exercise to cover up failures
Maharashtra’s case is turning out to be that of a clueless Chief Minister running the state in autopilot mode, while all hell breaks loose as the pandemic takes grip of the entire state, having recorded 17,974 confirmed cases with 694 fatalities. Uddhav Thackeray government has failed to handle the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra. But, what is even more excruciating is the fact that while Maharashtra is bearing the scourge of his blatant incompetence, Uddhav Thackeray is himself involved in a major PR campaign to get Bollywood to cheer for him and hailing him as the ‘best Chief Minister’. The left-liberal lobby within the Bollywood too has complied with their Chief Minister’s PR exercise.
