As the scourge of coronavirus sweeps across India, the city of Pune has emerged as one of the most potent COVID-19 clusters in the country. The situation in Pune in Maharashtra is particularly dire as the number of caseloads continues to rise sharply.
Despite enforcing a strict 10-day lockdown to arrest the precipitous rise in the coronavirus cases, the penultimate day before the lockdown got over saw a record highest single-day spike of 3,218 in the number of case. The 10-day lockdown in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad drew to an end on Thursday, July 23.
However, the inexorable surge in the number of coronavirus cases is a testimony to the spectacular failure that the lockdown had been, notwithstanding the economic losses induced by the restrictions.
While the spike in the case can also be attributed to the increased capacity of testing conducted in the city, but the mounting number of cases during a 10-day lockdown period demonstrates that Pune’s coronavirus outbreak is in acute state.
The decision to go on a 10-day lockdown from July 14 to July 23 was taken by Pune district administration with the view to break the transmission cycle of the virus. The decision to impose a lockdown was taken at a review meeting on the Covid-19 situation, attended by Deputy Chief Minister and Pune District’s Guardian Minister, Ajit Pawar, and senior officials.
However, the increased number of cases reported from Pune reveal that lockdown imposed in the city and its exurbs did little to stifle the relentless march of the contagion. While the administrators claimed that the lockdown will help the city in curtailing the number of cases, data from the eight locations that witnessed total lockdown during this month showed that the restrictions had little impact on reducing the spread of the virus in the city.
BJP MLA wrote a letter to PM Modi accusing Maha Vikas Aghadi of negligence towards Pune
A letter written by BJP MLA from Shivajinagar constituency in Pune forewarned the central government and PM Modi of the looming threat of coronavirus crisis facing Pune. In a scathing criticism of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, Shirole said that the Maharashtra government has left Pune to fend for itself from the surging coronavirus spread. He has accused the government of gross negligence which has pushed the city on the cusp of a medical calamity.
“Pune is just a few days away from a catastrophe. The state government has failed on multiple levels and the citizens are left to fend for themselves. Hence behalf of every citizen of Pune, I seek your intervention and support from the Central Government to provide our city much needed medical infrastructure it needs including large COVID centre,” Shirole requested the centre in a letter marked to PM Modi.
Shirole has further added that the chief minister of the state has till date not called for an update or review meeting via phone/video conference with the elected representatives of Pune and with the ground authorities. Accusing the Maharashtra government of abdication of their duty, Shirole has claimed that even emails from his office have not elicited a response from the establishment.
“Leadership that is paramount in times of crisis is acutely missing. Honourable Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ji has not made a single visit to Pune in the last 100 days either to oversee the preparedness of the administration or even to encourage the COVID warriors fighting on the frontlines,” the letter read.
