Thane, 31 August 2021: Maharashtra State Government is not against any festival but definitely against the Coronavirus. Corona is not a government program; one has to abide by global discipline and regulations to arrest its spread, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray here today.
He clarified that the Centre too has asked the state government to take sufficient care during these festivals on account of the possibility of further spread of the pandemic.
The Chief Minister has appealed to the people to observe the festival of ‘Gokul Ashtami ” in a simple way and celebrate the “Health Festival” (Arogya Utsav). Responding to his appeal, the Sanskruti Pratishthan had organized ‘Arogya Utsav” instead of “Dahi Handi Utsav”. As part of this festival, the Chief Minister dedicated the Oxygen Plant of Pratap Sarnaik Foundation and Vihang Charitable Trust Thane through the videoconferencing system.
The program was attended by the Urban Development Minister and Guardian Minister of Thane District Eknath Shinde, MP Sanjay Raut, MLAs Pratap Sarnaik, Ravindra Fatak, Mayor Naresh Mhaske, local representatives, CM’s Additional Chief Secretary Ashish Kumar Singh, Thane District Collector Rajesh Narvekar, and other dignitaries. MLA Pratap Sarnaik had planned to set up two oxygen plants, one of which was earlier inaugurated by the Chief Minister a few days ago at Mira Bhayandar.
Chief Minister Thackeray said that I am aware that we are deprived of the opportunity of ‘Dahi Handi Utsav’ and the enthusiasm associated with it. But the situation does not permit us to celebrate this festival. The world is facing the coronavirus threat and some people instead of creating health facilities want to celebrate such a festival that would endanger the lives of the citizens. This is very unfortunate. This is not a freedom struggle; they should keep it in their mind. This is a vital question related to the lives of the people. But agitations are planned, violating the corona protocols. If at all they want to agitate let them do it against the corona, he said.
Possibilities of the third wave of corona are being forecast. The Centre also has said the same thing. They have intimated the state government through a letter to avoid crowds during ‘Dahi Handi’ and “Ganesh Festival”. I would like to show this letter to those who plan agitations, he said and patted MLA Pratap Sarnaik for the step he had taken against the Coronavirus. We need to do this type of agitation against Corona, Thackeray said.
There will be no dearth of funds for good works he said and assured that in future also the shortage of funds would not be there. He congratulated Pratap Sarnaik for launching the oxygen plant to save the lives of the people.