As traders in Maharashtra protested against the lockdown-like measures implemented by the state government, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called for an emergency meeting with the trader associations. Representatives of the traders' body met CM Thackeray expressing displeasure with the government's decision to impose a lockdown in Mumbai and other districts. The meeting took place via video conferencing.
Addressing the traders during the meeting Uddhav Thackeray said, "The decision of lockdown or restrictions is taken to stem the tide of coronavirus. It is not against anyone. Therefore, traders should also cooperate with the government in this fight." He also said that the traders will also have to strictly follow the covid-19 rules.
Addressing further CM said, the crisis of COVID-19 is unfortunate." It has already been made clear that the government did not wanted to shut down anything or affect anyone's livelihood. No one wants to be restricted or locked down on a daily basis." The number of patients were brought down by a few hundreds in February-March. But now the number of patients is increasing rapidly. The number of beds in March last year was seven to eight thousand but now number has shoot up to 54 lakhs," he added.
Mentioning that according to the information given by the traders,the Chief Minister said that the number of workers in Mumbai alone is in lakhs due to the traveling of these workers, the infection is likely to increase due to it. "Unfortunately, COVID-19's first attack was on Mumbai. And now there is another attack as Mumbai also has a large influx of people from outside the state and from abroad."
The Chief Minister said, if your suggestions are accepted, then the workers-employees should be tested. He advised to take care of the worker's health.
"The fight is not with the government but a fight against the virus", the CM said. He also alerted them to not fall prey to anyone's provocation to stage protests.
During the discussion, office bearers of various trade associations, representative Viren Shah, b. C. Bhartiya, Jitendra Shah, Vinesh Mehta, Lalit Gandhi, Mohan Gurnani spoke. All of them expressed satisfaction whle hearing the views of the traders. "We will work hand in hand with the government to break the chain of the virus", they said.
"The current restrictions should be relaxed. Demanding that measures be taken to ensure that traders continue to work and that regulations to prevent viral infections are strictly adhered to, the traders would co-operate with 'Break the Chain'.
Health Minister Rajesh Tope, Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh, Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Ashish Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Vikas Kharge, Principal Secretary to the Health Department Pradeep Vyas, Principal Secretary to the State Disaster Management Department Asim Kumar Gupta, Secretary to the Chief Minister Abasaheb Jarhad, State Task Force member Dr Shashank Joshi and others participated in the meeting.
