Concerned with people flooding markets across cities, the State government might put some restrictions on public movement ahead of the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival to stall the possible third wave.

Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar, speaking in Nagpur on Tuesday, said that if the State government decides to impose restrictions, it will be across the State and not for a particular district.

Final decision by CM

He said that any decision about imposing lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19 will be taken by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He added that as of now the State is not considering any new measures to impose restrictions and lockdowns.

Earlier another minister in the State cabinet Nitin Raut had said the government will put restrictions in place in Nagpur in the next few days to control the number of Covid-19 patients.

Also see: Mumbai logs over 28% of total Covid-19 cases recorded in Aug in just 6 days of Sept: BMC data

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday reiterated that political parties must act with responsibility and only then will people respond. He said that the opening of temples and other religious places was not the government’s priority. He added that the State was focussed on building health infrastructure to face the possible third wave.

The State machinery is concerned with the rising number of people in markets across the cities ahead of the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival which starts on Friday. The festival is one of the biggest in the State, and especially Mumbai and Pune celebrate the festival with funfair. However, the government has already put restrictions on celebrating the public festival.

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