CM Thackery bats for national policy to curb Covid-inappropriate behaviour in country

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has also asked for regulation of the cost of monoclonal antibodies treatment

With religious fervour expected to be at its peak because of the liberal policy of certain states, and political activism refusing to take a backseat despite the warning of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to implement a uniform national policy to prevent crowding at such gatherings.

Thackeray was speaking on Friday at the PM's video conference with the CMs of six states where the Covid-19 caseload is still worrisome. He briefed the PM about the state's second wave status and its preparedness to mitigate the third wave, if any.

Unlike some states that have allowed pilgrimage and are under the apex court's scrutiny, Maharashtra hasn't opened up religious places yet, and regulated the upcoming annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur's Vitthal Rukmini Temple. The decision on Bakri Eid is expected soon. It has decided to ask celebrations of the Ganesh festival be held in a low-key fashion, and similar restrictions will apply to the Navratri festival. This month's local self-government by-polls have been postponed, albeit for a political reason.

"Not only in Maharashtra, but in several other states people are going out in large numbers. They have started revenge shopping and revenge tourism. There are crowds at religious and political events. We in the state, do our best to control this, but I think we need to have a uniform and expansive national policy for stopping this (Covid-inappropriate behaviour)," Thackeray said at the meeting.

The CM demanded the Centre's assistance for starting centres of excellence for post-Covid treatment and sought more vaccine doses for Maharashtra. "The 8-10 districts in the state have more active cases, and these districts must vaccinate their two crore population of above 18 years at the earliest," he added.

Reduce medicine cost

According to Thackeray, since the monoclonal antibodies treatment costs about Rs 60,000 per dose, its prices should be brought down. "For treating 50,000 patients, we will need Rs 300 crore. The Centre should regulate the price and make it easily available," he said. After the PM's conference, the CM asked the state's district collectors to prevent crowding in their jurisdiction. "The numbers may be less and stable but we still get 8,000-9,000 patients every day. The cases have not reduced; in fact, cases in some districts are rising," he said.

Field residence for workers

On Thursday, the state government worked on a strategy for keeping the manufacturing and industry sector in operation even during the third wave. It asked big industries to build lodging and boarding facilities (field residential areas) for their workers on factory premises. It was suggested that the industry create point-to-point transport service.