Maharashtra CM Thackeray asks politicians to immediately stop 'programmes that attract crowds'

The chief minister said the upcoming festive days were crucial and challenging

Amid growing resentment among people and demand by political parties to open up restrictions further, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray made a fervent appeal to avoid crowding in order to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic’s third wave.

Alerting people vis-a-vis new variants of the viral infection and that the third wave is “round the corner”, Thackeray said if we do not take things seriously we may have to pay a heavy price.

“I appeal to all - let us avoid public gatherings, let’s avoid political meetings and rallies, let’s not promote assembly of people,” the chief minister said after a review meeting of the Disaster Management Department.

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“Let us prioritise the lives and health of our citizens. The situation can go out of hand in view of the spike in daily cases. Let us prevent the third wave. Let us take all precautions at our end,” said Thackeray, the Shiv Sena president.

Ahead of the festive season kickstarting with the Ganesh festival, he said: “Who would like to impose restrictions on festivals and religious programmes? But what is important here is people’s lives.”

Making special requests to political parties, he said: “I appeal to all those in government and those in opposition, please take more precautions now. People’s lives are more important. Besides, the onus is on us to ensure that things do not go out of control.”

Thackeray further said that Kerala is seeing a spike of 30,000 cases daily. “This is a danger signal and if we don't take it seriously, Maharashtra will have to pay a heavy price," he said, indicating that the third wave is round the corner. “In United States, the third wave has disrupted normal life. China too seems to be in trouble," he said.