A huge crowd of migrant workers had gathered at the Ahle Sunnat Sunni Raza Jama Masjid near Bandra station in Mumbai demanding to go home. Mumbai Police was forced to resort to lathi-charge the crowd in order to contain it. Now, similar crowds are being reported from Mumbra. The crowd demanded that the state government arrange for transportation to their homes amidst the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, similar crowds in Mumbra. #Lockdown2 pic.twitter.com/ZOxH6J9RHj
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 14, 2020
As per PTI, Senior inspector Khanya Thorat of the Mumbra police station managed to pacify the migrant crowd and convince them to return to their living quarters after a couple of hours. Meanwhile, it is reported that Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray regarding the outpouring of migrants on to the street.
JUST IN: Home Minister @AmitShah speaks to @OfficeofUT on today’s migrant crowd surge in Bandra & Mumbra.
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 14, 2020
My दो paisa: Centre and state need to be 100% aligned & laser-focused at this time. ZERO room for error. We are one step away from the tipping point to a calamitous spike.
Maharashtra govt’s mess in coronavirus
Maharashtra has seen the highest number of coronavirus positive cases in the country with as many as 2,337 having reported positive as of 5 PM on April 14. The Maharashtra government, however, despite the PR stunts has not been able to contain the spread of the contagion. Moreover, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the cases in Maharashtra may be under-reported, especially, due to the sheer incompetence of the Maharashtra government. While there are several things that the Maharashtra government has done right, for example, its outreach program to keep its people calm, there are several issues that have clearly come to the fore as well.