FWICE writes to Maha CM, asks for 'special permission' to resume work

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees FWICE has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minster Uddhav Thackeray urging the government to allow films and TV shows to restart production in the stateIn April the Maha government had announced the suspension of all shootings in order to curb the spread of the infection in the state which was in the middle of the deadly second wave of COVID19Currently some TV shows and film shoots are happening outside Maharashtra In their letter sent to Thackeray on Monday the FWICE said the media and entertainment MampE sector has been badly hit due to the coronavirusforced statewide lockdownIt stated that lakhs of artists workers and technicians have been jobless for the last one and half years when the pandemic started in IndiaThis industry has been providing work to lakhs of hands and enabling their families to earn their daily breadHowever the lockdown of the industry has impacted the lives of these daily wage workers who have absolute no other source of income and are totally dependent on the work of the Industry read the letterThe FWICE said an extension of the statewide lockdown will be a setback for daily wagers as well as producersNot only the workers but the producers are also affected badly with huge investments already made into the running projects which have been to a standstill due to the unfortunate lockdown The trade body requested the Maharashtra CM to provide a special permission for resumption of filming activities in the stateWe shall ensure that the work shall resume with strict adherence to the SOPs guidelines issued by the government especially for the MampE industryFWICE and the coordination committee assure you that all the rules and regulations of the government shall be followed by each and every crew member and all necessary precautions shall be taken at each work location the letter signed by chief advisor Ashoke Pandit and President B N Tiwari among others readThe Maharashtra government on Sunday extended the lockdownlike curbs till June 15 but also announced that relaxations will be granted depending upon the COVID19 positivity rate and availability of oxygen bedsIn Mumbai the home to Hindi cinema and television sector the curbs were relaxed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC after the city witnessed a steady decline in COVID19 casesThe civic body has so far allowed nonessential shops to function between 7 am to 2 pm on alternate days from Monday to Friday for the next 15 daysOn Monday Maharashtra reported 15077 new COVID19 cases the lowest since March 15 taking the caseload to 5746892 while 184 more deaths pushed the toll to 95344Also Read FWICE lifts ban on Gauahar Khan for allegedly flouting Covid19 rulesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever