Use cess fund for COVID-19 lockdown-affected daily wagers: Devendra Fadnavis

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the state government should utilise the cess fund for construction workers to provide relief to daily wagers during the current novel coronavirus outbreak.

In a statement, he said steps needed to be taken for daily wagers at a time when major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur etc are under lockdown.

Mumbai and its surrounding metropolitan area has 50 lakh construction workers and the cess fund for them is worth Rs 4,000 crore which can be utilised for food and wages, he said.

"There are many other workers whose livelihood depends on daily earnings. NGOs can be roped in and a standard operating practice (SOP) needs to be prepared and guidelines should be formulated for this purpose," Fadnavis added.

He asked the state government to ensure municipal corporations give extension for various taxes that need to be paid by March 31.

Fadnavis said labourers were moving from cities to their native villages and steps must be in place to ensure the virus doesn't spread to those regions.

Thermal screening should be done at railway stations, adequate police bandobast should be maintained, and medical facilities should be enhanced in places where they are headed to, he added.

Speaking on Sunday's Janta curfew, Fadnavis said, "It is important to break the cycle. I have asked BJP workers to cooperate with the state government. This is a national calamity and we need to unitedly fight it," he said.