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Real test of leadership

Real test of leadership

Maharashtra has led by example in reining in the Corona pandemic even as the Opposition ramped up efforts to pull the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government down

As the city of Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra re-opens cautiously but optimistically in a phased manner, it is important to mention how the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government continues to face relentless attack from the main Opposition party, the BJP, ever since the three parties — the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress — formed a coalition Government and took charge of the State in November last year. Barely had the MVA Government presented its first budget and started building a roadmap for the revival of the State’s economy, the Coronavirus pandemic brought fresh challenges for it.

The Maharashtra Government, namely the Chief Minster and the Health Minister, started providing daily updates on COVID-19 after the first case was registered on March 9. Most cases were related to travellers returning from abroad, who were not in the Centre’s scanner list initially. Since then, the State has seen a spurt in the number of Corona cases. With a total of 1,69,883 cases, the death toll stands at 7,429. There are 73,298 active cases while 88,960 patients have recovered so far.

Of course, this has prompted the Opposition to question the State Government’s strategy in handling the pandemic. It even predicted doomsday scenarios with hashtags such as #MaharashtraBachao trending on social media platforms. However, as it is said, the devil is always in the details. Truth makes the State’s BJP unit uncomfortable and, hence, it is unable to confront actual figures. The death rate in Maharashtra did climb up to 7.5 per cent eight weeks ago but it has dropped steadily since then and now stands at 4.65 per cent. Recovery rate has seen a marked improvement and now stands at 52.26 per cent, up from 26.25 per cent on May 20. Mumbai’s COVID-19 doubling rate is 25 days while the national average is 19 days. The daily death figures reported by Maharashtra so far, too, have declined in the fortnight. In the State capital and the nation’s financial capital city, Mumbai, where the average doubling rate of cases stood at 41 days, Dharavi, which was labelled as a ticking time bomb, is now recording cases in single digit. Further, Mumbai saw its coronavirus count rise with 1,297 new cases being reported in the last 24 hours, taking the city’s tally to 72,175. With 44 new deaths reported this week, Mumbai’s death toll stands at 4,179. The number of active cases here are 28,244 and 39,744 patients have recovered so far. This is way below the estimates provided by a five-member inter-ministerial central team that had projected that the number of cases would spiral to approximately 6.5 lakh by mid-May.

When the State Government announced a phased lifting of the lockdown, it remained focussed on augmenting bed capacity to be able to handle a rise in the number of cases. Since then, the State Government increased bed capacity in hospitals from 400 to 2.5 lakh, of which 25,000 beds had oxygen facilities. The number of ICU beds, too, was increased from 250 to around 8,500. Hospitals for treating infections with isolation facilities, too, were increased from just three to 2,576.

Moreover, the number of COVID-19 testing laboratories was raised from three to 100, the highest in the country. The State Government has also taken charge of 80 per cent of the beds in private hospitals and capped the treatment cost to ensure patients aren’t used to profiteer in the times of a pandemic. The State has neither shied away from testing nor from sharing data on the same. Trace, test and treat have been the guiding principle.

It was ironic that the media and certain influencers woke up to the transparency once Delhi raced past Mumbai in the number of cases reported,  forcing the Central Government to intervene to help augment their capacities. The State Government is now entirely focussed on bringing down the mortality rate.

It is depressing that the State has continued to witness political slugfest ever since the Corona pandemic began when it had to grapple with a high mortality rate. It continues to fight this battle even as leaders in the Opposition are busy holding press conferences and protests to give teeth to their political agenda. They even made frequent visits to the Raj Bhavan to create political instability in the State.

While the country was battling the migrant crisis, Maharashtra, which is home to the largest migrant population, created over 18,000 relief camps for them. However, the migrants spilled out on the roads in large numbers outside the Bandra station after the end of the first phase of the lockdown as a political slugfest over the Shramik Special trains for migrants workers erupted.

When the unfortunate deaths happened at Palghar, the BJP left no stone unturned to communalise the incident. The war of words intensified when the Railway Minister took offence to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s statement that the State had the capacity to handle more Shramik trains than were allotted to the State. This escalation happened at a time when the Railways were already facing flak for the conditions of the trains, over 80 deaths and approximately 40 trains that lost their destination and reached a different State altogether.

Despite provocations, the State Government has studiously kept itself out of politics and focussed itself in containing the pandemic by working in close cooperation with the Centre. The State Government was also left battling a second challenge in carrying out relief work that followed before and after cyclone Nisarga struck its coast.

There could be weaknesses in the State’s health infrastructure, which is being faced by other States as well, but what is important is that we should not lose sight of being able to handle this medical and humanitarian crisis with empathy and commitment to the people. So, while the Opposition continues with its political agenda, the people of the State continue to solidly back the Chief Minister and the MVA Government to help the State get out of the biggest humanitarian and medical crisis faced by the world.

(Writer: Priyanka Chaturvedi; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

Real test of leadership

Real test of leadership

Maharashtra has led by example in reining in the Corona pandemic even as the Opposition ramped up efforts to pull the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government down

As the city of Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra re-opens cautiously but optimistically in a phased manner, it is important to mention how the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government continues to face relentless attack from the main Opposition party, the BJP, ever since the three parties — the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress — formed a coalition Government and took charge of the State in November last year. Barely had the MVA Government presented its first budget and started building a roadmap for the revival of the State’s economy, the Coronavirus pandemic brought fresh challenges for it.

The Maharashtra Government, namely the Chief Minster and the Health Minister, started providing daily updates on COVID-19 after the first case was registered on March 9. Most cases were related to travellers returning from abroad, who were not in the Centre’s scanner list initially. Since then, the State has seen a spurt in the number of Corona cases. With a total of 1,69,883 cases, the death toll stands at 7,429. There are 73,298 active cases while 88,960 patients have recovered so far.

Of course, this has prompted the Opposition to question the State Government’s strategy in handling the pandemic. It even predicted doomsday scenarios with hashtags such as #MaharashtraBachao trending on social media platforms. However, as it is said, the devil is always in the details. Truth makes the State’s BJP unit uncomfortable and, hence, it is unable to confront actual figures. The death rate in Maharashtra did climb up to 7.5 per cent eight weeks ago but it has dropped steadily since then and now stands at 4.65 per cent. Recovery rate has seen a marked improvement and now stands at 52.26 per cent, up from 26.25 per cent on May 20. Mumbai’s COVID-19 doubling rate is 25 days while the national average is 19 days. The daily death figures reported by Maharashtra so far, too, have declined in the fortnight. In the State capital and the nation’s financial capital city, Mumbai, where the average doubling rate of cases stood at 41 days, Dharavi, which was labelled as a ticking time bomb, is now recording cases in single digit. Further, Mumbai saw its coronavirus count rise with 1,297 new cases being reported in the last 24 hours, taking the city’s tally to 72,175. With 44 new deaths reported this week, Mumbai’s death toll stands at 4,179. The number of active cases here are 28,244 and 39,744 patients have recovered so far. This is way below the estimates provided by a five-member inter-ministerial central team that had projected that the number of cases would spiral to approximately 6.5 lakh by mid-May.

When the State Government announced a phased lifting of the lockdown, it remained focussed on augmenting bed capacity to be able to handle a rise in the number of cases. Since then, the State Government increased bed capacity in hospitals from 400 to 2.5 lakh, of which 25,000 beds had oxygen facilities. The number of ICU beds, too, was increased from 250 to around 8,500. Hospitals for treating infections with isolation facilities, too, were increased from just three to 2,576.

Moreover, the number of COVID-19 testing laboratories was raised from three to 100, the highest in the country. The State Government has also taken charge of 80 per cent of the beds in private hospitals and capped the treatment cost to ensure patients aren’t used to profiteer in the times of a pandemic. The State has neither shied away from testing nor from sharing data on the same. Trace, test and treat have been the guiding principle.

It was ironic that the media and certain influencers woke up to the transparency once Delhi raced past Mumbai in the number of cases reported,  forcing the Central Government to intervene to help augment their capacities. The State Government is now entirely focussed on bringing down the mortality rate.

It is depressing that the State has continued to witness political slugfest ever since the Corona pandemic began when it had to grapple with a high mortality rate. It continues to fight this battle even as leaders in the Opposition are busy holding press conferences and protests to give teeth to their political agenda. They even made frequent visits to the Raj Bhavan to create political instability in the State.

While the country was battling the migrant crisis, Maharashtra, which is home to the largest migrant population, created over 18,000 relief camps for them. However, the migrants spilled out on the roads in large numbers outside the Bandra station after the end of the first phase of the lockdown as a political slugfest over the Shramik Special trains for migrants workers erupted.

When the unfortunate deaths happened at Palghar, the BJP left no stone unturned to communalise the incident. The war of words intensified when the Railway Minister took offence to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s statement that the State had the capacity to handle more Shramik trains than were allotted to the State. This escalation happened at a time when the Railways were already facing flak for the conditions of the trains, over 80 deaths and approximately 40 trains that lost their destination and reached a different State altogether.

Despite provocations, the State Government has studiously kept itself out of politics and focussed itself in containing the pandemic by working in close cooperation with the Centre. The State Government was also left battling a second challenge in carrying out relief work that followed before and after cyclone Nisarga struck its coast.

There could be weaknesses in the State’s health infrastructure, which is being faced by other States as well, but what is important is that we should not lose sight of being able to handle this medical and humanitarian crisis with empathy and commitment to the people. So, while the Opposition continues with its political agenda, the people of the State continue to solidly back the Chief Minister and the MVA Government to help the State get out of the biggest humanitarian and medical crisis faced by the world.

(Writer: Priyanka Chaturvedi; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

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