A day after the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) suspended the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive owing to the shortage in stock, public representatives wrote to the civic administration and suggested means for better crowd management at the vaccination centres.
Ameet Satam, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Andheri (West), wrote to the municipal administration and suggested that the BMC should now start its own digital platform, like the CoWIN portal, which would help people pre-fix their appointments and get slots.
"I would like to suggest that, in addition to the CoWIN portal where people can register, we should have another platform where all the vaccination centres in Mumbai are uploaded and people can take prior appointments time-wise and date-wise for vaccination. Only those people for registration on CoWIN and prior slot appointments on the MCGM platform should reach the centre," said Satam in his letter.
Meanwhile, another BJP leader Vinod Mishra, who is a senior corporator and the group leader of the party in the BMC, said that before formulating plans to augment the vaccination facilities, the civic body should arrange for adequate vaccines first.
"BMC is confused. A few days back, they were saying that, to vaccinate the 18 to 44 years group, they will take out global tender and bring vials from abroad. Now, they have to suspend the vaccination for three days. The civic administration should have a proper plan now, because all the citizens are already confused," said Mishra.
On Friday morning, Ravi Raja, leader of opposition (LoP) in BMC and senior Congress corporator, took to Twitter, saying that the BMC should expand its vaccination booths, but only once it has adequate stock. "We support the administration's idea of setting up 227 vaccination centres across Mumbai. However, the civic body should also ensure that there should be adequate stock everywhere. Else, there is no point in starting so many booths," said Raja.
