News Analysis India

Tag: Maharashtra legislature

  • Centre should provide three crore COVID vaccine doses per month: Maharashtra legislature

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Both the houses of the Maharashtra legislature on Tuesday passed unanimous resolutions asking the Centre to provide a minimum of three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses per month to the state so that a third wave of the pandemic can be avoided and economic activities revived.

    Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Health Minister Rajesh Tope, who moved the resolutions in both houses, said the state machinery can vaccinate 10 lakh people per day provided doses were available. “With this number, we can vaccinate three crore people in the next two months. Expediting vaccination drive is necessary for the economic revival as well,” he said.

    As per the resolution, the Union government has so far provided 2,84,39,060 doses and the state has purchased another 25,10,730, while 3,43,82,583 persons have received the jab in the state till now which is the highest in the country.

    Maharashtra has so far conducted 4.25 crore tests for coronavirus, of which 61 lakh came out positive while the viral infection has killed 1.23 lakh patients so far, Tope said. There are 1.23 lakh active cases, he pointed out.

    “Maharashtra is at the top in the number of infections, deaths and active cases. There are 21 cases of the ‘Delta Plus’ variant (of coronavirus) and 5,500 cases of mucormycosis (black fungus). This is a serious situation,” he said.

    The Shiv Sena’s Sunil Prabhu said the state should also consider vaccinating (on a priority basis) those from poor sections of society including the homeless people who do not have Aadhaar cards or any other identification document.

    Congress MLA and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan attacked the Centre over the high prices of doses and “profiteering”. “Who is responsible for the profiteering? No other nation has done this where people have to pay Rs 1,200 per dose. Instead of asking states and municipalities to procure vaccines, the central government should purchase vaccines through a single order for the entire nation and sell them or distribute to the states,” Chavan said.

    He added that as many as 6.5 crore vaccine doses were exported “when we should have kept them for our own people”. Speaking in the Council, Tope said that vaccinating every person was the only way forward. “If we carry out vaccination of 70 to 80 percent of people, it will help create herd immunity in the state,” the minister said.

    Economic activities have been impacted and if vaccination takes place on a large scale, the burden on the health systems will decrease which will help the government ease the existing `level 3′ restrictions, he said.

    The government has framed five levels of restrictions, the fifth level being the severest.

    Leader of Opposition in the Council Pravin Darekar (BJP) supported the resolution but also said that as Maharashtra is at the top in terms of number of vaccinated persons, the state government should be grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing the largest number of doses to the state.

  • BJP should let Maharashtra monsoon session to function in people’s interest: Sanjay Raut

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the opposition BJP should allow the two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature to function smoothly if it has the interest of the state’s people in mind.

    The two-day monsoon session of the state legislature will begin on Monday.

    Talking to reporters here, Raut said the opposition should allow the legislature proceedings to go on smoothly for the two days.

    “Pandemonium is not the way to corner the government. Such tactics can be adopted by the other side as well. This will not solve problems of vaccination (against coronavirus), COVID-19, unemployment and economy,” said Raut, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

    He said the Maharashtra government has several issues for discussion on problems being faced by people in the state.

    “If the BJP feels committed towards the welfare of the state, it will allow the legislature session to function. The people of the state want the two-day session not to be washed away in pandemonium,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

    On reports that he met BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Saturday, Raut said “the more such rumours spread, the stronger the MVA alliance will become”.

    “We may have political and ideological differences, but if we come face-to-face at public functions, we will cordially greet each other. I have had coffee with Shelar openly,” the Sena’s chief spokesperson said.

    To a query on the state government planning to bring a resolution in the legislature opposing three central farm laws, Raut said if the MVA is proposing such a resolution, it means all the three allies are in support of the resolution.

    NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Saturday said the state government will pass a resolution during the monsoon session against the three central farm laws.

    Farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with their demands that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.