Expressing concern over crowding and the increase of vehicular traffic on city roads, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday warned citizens that the prevailing lockdown-like curbs will be made stringent if such a situation continues. He said, “In my Sunday's public address I did not declare that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted. I really wondered why people made so much of a rush on roads. I cross checked my speech; in case some message was wrongly conveyed but my team told me nothing was like that." I urge everyone to follow lockdown norms otherwise in Mumbai I have to impose strict restrictions, the CM asserted.
He made these comments at the MMRDA auditorium in Bandra while speaking at the inaugural function of the 20km stretch trial run on Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to DN Nagar) and Line 7 (Dahisar East--Andheri East) and bhoomipujan of vehicular underpasses to decongest existing city airport junctions and virtual inauguration of one arm of Rajnoli flyover and Durgadi flyover.
Thackeray said that he physically attended an inauguration function after a long time because due to Covid-19 most of the functions are virtual. "The inauguration is also mainly related to Covid-19 like the starting of Oxygen centre, Covid Jumbo Care centre, testing lab. However I really appreciate MMRDA for completing significant work on Metro Line 2A and Line 7, which is expected to be open for the public from January 2021 onwards. When completed, these projects will put Mumbai on a faster pace amid the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
Reportedly the Maharashtra government has extended state wide lockdown till June 15. However, Thackeray has assured certain relaxations and restrictions will be provided depending on the Covid-19 case tally in districts.