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Uddhav Thackeray has failed to handle Covid crisis. Bring in Army to save Mumbai

As coronavirus spreads through slums of Mumbai, there isn’t much hope resting on Uddhav Thackeray's state government to contain it. Look at its blunders so far.

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A national calamity is not the time for a political attack. It is time to stand by the government. But when the sheer ineptitude and stubbornness of the government endangers the safety of people, it becomes important to seek accountability. Asking questions is a responsibility.

Uddhav Thackeray government has failed to handle the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra, so, it is important that the central government brings in the Army to handle the slums of Dharavi and Govandi in Mumbai. If proper protocols are followed, these areas might require up to 10 lakh tests — the state government looks unprepared to handle it, or its aftermath.

The Maharashtra Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition government’s inability to get its act together even after a month has put the city of Mumbai at grave risk.

Is there an official war room at all in Maharashtra to manage Covid-19? Has Thackeray pulled up the home minister Anil Deshmukh in the wake of his unending failures? Is Mumbai entirely outsourced to the BMC? Is the CM being updated at all by the health minister? (By the way, both home and health ministries are with NCP). Moreover, how many of the state ministers have visited the districts that are assigned to them as guardian ministers or have they treated the lockdown as a holiday?

Considering that even 40 days after the detection of the first Covid-19 case in Mumbai, the state government is struggling to get its act together, there is a growing sentiment among the informed classes that Army deployment in the slums of Dharavi and Govandi is needed to save Mumbai.

Let me explain with hard facts.


Also read: Army of 50,000 ‘NCC corona warriors’ ready, being deployed across India


How the numbers add up

Let us look at the latest Covid-19 figures from Mumbai as on 15 April.

Source: @MyBMC | Twitter

With 1,936 cases distributed pretty much equally across the city, and with the slum clusters of Dharavi and Govandi emerging as the new hotspots, anyone who knows Mumbai even remotely would know the damage the city is staring at. Worli, with nearly 400 cases, by the way, is Aaditya Thackeray’s constituency.

What makes the situation intriguing is the unabated, relentless rise of new containment zones after 24 days of lockdown (Maharashtra has been lockdown since 22 March), which obviously makes a mockery of lockdown compliance.

Maharashtra and Kerala were nearly at the same level two weeks ago. Now, as Maharashtra struggles, Kerala has been able to successfully flatten the curve.

Now, let us look at the critical components – medical preparedness and lockdown effectiveness in combating the coronavirus and how they failed miserably in Maharashtra.


Also read: Hand washing to stop coronavirus — 78% of toilets in Mumbai slums lack reliable water supply


Medical preparedness 

Maharashtra now accounts for 23.9 per cent of the total Covid-19 cases in India and 44.3 per cent of the total Covid-19 deaths. In fact, the mortality rate in Maharashtra (6.5-7 per cent) is higher than the global average (3.4 per cent).

Considering that Mumbai is equipped with better medical facilities than most other parts of India, there could only be two plausible reasons for the high mortality rate in the city. One is poor medical preparedness in hospitals to fight Covid19; the other is perhaps a much higher number of undetected cases.

Most hospitals chosen to treat Covid-19 patients were ill-prepared for it. The Covid-19 sections in the hospitals required foolproof segregation, which did not happen. Instead of getting all or most of Covid-19 patients under one roof or two, they were scattered across the city. This explains why one of the largest numbers of hospitals shut due to Covid-19 as well as a large number of infected medical professionals is in Mumbai.

In fact, a tweet by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor admonishing the Maharashtra government for “poor conditions” in isolation wards pretty much sums up the ground situation.

Despite the availability of adequate PPEs in Mumbai, the government has been unable to ensure that the PPEs reach the hospitals. Neither has it been able to provide proper security in Covid-19 hospitals. Even on 15 April, when India entered the second phase of lockdown, another unsavoury episode of mismanagement was reported from Juhu’s Cooper hospital.

Apart from the hospital challenges, as of today, three large police colonies in Mumbai stand sealed, demoralising the city’s police force.


Also read: Why Maharashtra has India’s highest Covid-19 mortality numbers


The myth of more testing 

It is important here to expose the Maharashtra government’s claims of “more testing than any other state”. As of Friday, the tests per million (TPM) people in Maharashtra is below Rajasthan and Kerala (among bigger states)and even below Delhi among the smaller states. At over 50,000 total tests in Maharashtra, the state has done approximately 17-18 per cent of total tests in India. But considering that the state accounts for 23.9 per cent of the cases in the country, this testing is low. More testing at this stage is a grave necessity, not choice.

But starting 12 April, testing protocols have been abruptly changed in Mumbai. Now, non-high-risk contacts won’t be tested. Considering that 65 per cent of Mumbai coronavirus patients have been asymptomatic, one can imagine the grave danger this alteration carries. It also goes against the guidelines of the ICMR.


Also read: Dharavi is a ticking bomb in the Covid-19 challenge, nothing being rolled out will be enough


Lockdown effectiveness

Umpteen images and videos from across the city in the last three weeks attest that the lockdown has been shambolic.

Let us look at some more outrageous lockdown violations.

— A Thane engineer allegedly gets picked up by NCP workers on 5 April for a Facebook post. They take him to the house of NCP minster, Jitendra Awhad. There, the engineer is beaten black and blue, in the presence of Awhad’s police bodyguards. Two of the policemen, arrested for beating the man, have tested positive for Covid-19. The NCP councillor from Thane, Milind Patil has claimed that Jitendra Awhad had tested positive for Covid19, which, if true, means, that apart from unleashing violence, the minister, is also a ‘super spreader’. Has Uddhav Thackeray considered action against Awhad? Now reports claim Awhad has tested negative, while 14 people who came in contact with him have tested Covid-positive.

— The hasty and sudden permission given by principal secretary of the Maharashtra home department, Amitabh Gupta to 23 members of the Wadhawan family to travel to Mahabaleshwar during the lockdown, stands well exposed. Apart from the official having been sent on leave, no investigation followed.

— Let us not forget that a significant number of Tablighis from Maharashtra who attended the Nizamuddin markaz congregation have not been traced. Last week, Anil Deshmukh had claimed that 58 markaz attendees were incommunicado. This week he has claimed that 40 out of 58 have been traced. Considering Deshmukh’s credibility crisis, these numbers can be taken only with a pinch of salt.

— The massive migrant workers’ crowd outside Bandra station on 14 April, is mired in mystery. The fact that 3,000 people could congregate in the heart of Bandra when I have personally found it difficult to even step out to the grocers’ raises several questions. The fact that a similar congregation happened in Mumbra, the stronghold of Jitendra Awhad, and the fact that the arrested alleged instigator, Vinay Dubey, whose social media posts flaunt his proximity to NCP leaders, does not look coincidental. Equally shocking is a purported video from the site of chaos in Bandra where the migrant workers were supposedly being tutored to rebel.

The above incidents clearly show that CM Uddhav Thackeray has little or no knowledge of what his home minister or other cabinet ministers are up to.

The next few days are critical for Mumbai’s future.

The author is a writer and a national media panelist of the BJP. Views are personal.

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340 COMMENTS

  1. Waah, ThePrint!!! You read an entire article and then you inform me that the author is a member of the BJP. How fantastic!, You should place that “note” right in the beginning of the article, so that I don’t waste my time reading bullshit!!!

  2. This article was written on 18 April 2020. Today is 9 May 2020. We are still screwed and now the esteemed politicians and bureaucrats will blame everyone except themselves.
    We must be unique, why so, because post 40+ days of lockout we are the only country and state where infections are still rising
    Did we not know that dharavi was a time bomb. Did we not know that Mumbai is a super high density area and all slums are a time bomb.
    We have the richest municipal org in the country and yet they have failed to provide the basics., water supply problem , water quality issue , road issue and now Corona issue. Our sheer bad luck that these chaps have been voted for 25 years and have failed us consistently. Its also our fault that we voted for them.
    Now our great BMC will claim that due to corona rest of the stuff in the city could not be done.
    V V disappointed with the our state (the great 3 political parties) and bmc; Summer will soon end and monsoon will start and our great State Govt and BMC will still expect us to maintain physical distancing. AND STILL THE STATE HEALTH MINISTER WILL CLAIM THAT THE INFECTION RATE WILL FLATTEN IN NEXT 15-20 DAYS !!!
    As a Mumbaikar i watch this city drown in chaos and fall in the gutter. .
    (NO I AM NOT A BJP SUPPORTER; AM A SUPPORTER OF GOOD GOVERNANCE)

  3. In mumbai most of areas are not getting food neither proper services that’s why this people coming from their houses and sitting on the street for the food
    If these people get proper services and food i think so they will stay at their houses.
    Also please don’t beat them explain them in sweet tounge to keep distance and avoid to come out from their houses . Also keep cleanliness in their houses , areas ya society .

  4. Very very true! The state govt in Maharashtra just wants revenue to be generated at the cost of our lives by opening liquor shops in Mumbai. Was that a right decision made by such fools in the state govt?? Why should we Mumbai citizens bear the brunt of such idiotic people running the state???? We will face more of an extended lockdown due to such foolish decisions made by the state govt. Maharashtra CM should resign with immediate effect, he has no choice now. Enough is enough!

  5. When all else fails, resort to exaggerated misinformation. Tried bribery and corrupted a governor to form a 24 hour govt in the darkness of night. Dysfunctional governor couldn’t reach a fair decision but played politics while people were dying. These were not only Maharashtrians but Indians who came to this state as their own states could not provide livelihood. Governor decides on an election when other options available to spare traumatized citizens. First throw out the governor, a puppet. Is he out on the streets helping the people of the state he is supposed to govern? Don’t even criticize the Chief Minister. He was not clapping hands or lighting divas. He has kept his mouth shut and head bent to the virus he is not responsible for. The Centre did not heed early warnings. Where is the Central Home Minister for the past weeks? Shame on such people who descend to such levels. Leave our Chief Minister alone. We need him not the manipulators.

  6. The writer is a proper bjp lackey . He comes on republic every other day and incoherently espouses the bjp line which republic also endorses . He is a ill informed and inarticulate clown

    • Let’s have informed clowns speak correct information which is not misquoted in that case!!!!

    • So the writer is suggesting to hand over to Central government which is twice as incompetent as the Maharashtra government.

  7. Distribute prophylactic Hydroxychloroquine in slums and to all individuals at risk. Secondly, everybody should wear masks. These two steps will reduce the problem by 90%. It’s unfortunate that the state govt chickened out on HCQ distribution, under pressure from anti-national forces.

  8. Playing petty politics at the time of crisis.
    Shame on writer
    And if failure to handle Covid is a parameter , our honourable PM Modi should resign

    • Why not our CM? Who is incapable to control corona. He is dancing under the pressure of NCP Congress and their alliance. He does not have any of his own ideas. He is completely failed CM. He should resigned from post. Please stop criticize our honoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  9. Why blame the State Government, when Modi was busy gallivanting with Trump in Gujarat and Italian tourists came? Why were the Tablig Jamaat allowed into the county? Even after knowing, why were they allowed to disperse? For that do not blame the Delhi Government. The Delhi Police as well as the airport security is under the Central Government. Was Amit Shah sleeping? After having brought down the MP Government, now BJP is trying the same in Maharashtra.

    • This is loose most comment I could read in this entire discussions. Modi has controlled India numbers such that it became as shocking success to world despite non cooperation from few states. So India is doing great despite Jamati played as spoiler and Maharashtra CM behaved useless.
      Now come to India numbers, which state are doing great and worst. Maharashtra is worst! More facts are coming out of mismanagement.

      • The local community of these places should take up responsibility of remaining safe . A clear example is the tragedy which took place at Vizag the local public police and the administration was able to overcome with team work . In Dharavi Govandi and other places just the opposite is happening .

  10. Nice article with many FACTS.
    No surprise that why back to back such uncertainties and situations happened in Maharashtra

  11. This is a completely biased article without any thought process from start to end. Also comparision of Kerala numbers and Mumbai numbers defies logic.

    • What is bias in speaking truth with facts ? You want a writer from YUVA SENA ? Then approach dumb Aditya and write in Saamana!

  12. This is an attempt to create a negative narrative among the masses against the democratically elected and stable Government of Maharashtra, the writer has deliberately mis-quoted the facts and figures, there are several people like the former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, famous journalist Shobha De, Mahesh Bhatt who have clearly condemned this notion and said that there is no need of Military in Maharashtra
    The BJP is playing to repeat MP in Maharashtra this will be a sheer devastation, unlike MP maharashtra’s capital Mumbai is also the financial capital of India and if the BJP doesn’t stop doing politics here then there will be a bigger economic crisis n India.. Wait & watch the fight between Power Greedy party and an democratically elected party….

  13. Maha under the leadership of Uddhavji is doing far better than any other states.The one who is writing this article is not a good writer.because his state of mind and political biasedness can easily be reflected in his article.had he been a good writer he would have tried to express the facts without being exposed for his mental sickness.

    Mumbai and people of Mumbai ..lots of love and blessings.

    Mr CM I congratulate you for an all round wonderful work and clear directives.people who are criticising either they have no idea about the demography of the City or have purposely shut there eyes shamelessly so that the crisis could be taken to there political advantage.what a shame.thooooooooo

    • What ?? Read the numbers ever going up and failiour to strict lick down as well as mandatory use of mask and social distancing where the population is dense . Now during month of Ramadan that will be challenge as NCP and Congress will tie hus hands fir vote bank appeasement but covid 19 spread irrespective of race,religion,region geographical boundaries . India have not enough doctors,nurses,hospitals if even mumbai gets in yo 6 digit and so as in entire maharashtra too. Appeasement will not help to convince dumb crowd of fanatics to follow the guidelines and recent scenario if europe,usa where lockdown and social distancing not observed . He will open next week on pappu logics and india may see 6 digit death numbers only in maharashtra. So wait fir your smart CM to be even smarter .

  14. Maha under the leadership of Uddhavji is doing far better than any other states.The one who is writing this article is not a good writer.because his state of mind and political biasdnes can easily be reflected in his article.had he been a good writer he would have tried to express the facts without being exposed for his mental sickness.

    Mr CM I congratulate you for an all round wonderful work and clear directives.people who are criticising either they have no idea about the demography or have purposely shut there eyes shamelessly so that the crisis could be taken to there political advantage.what a shame.thooooooooo

  15. We are very blessed with such CM… For all timely actions in such complex and extremely situation. We don’t need your opinion…

  16. How much were you paid to write such an biased article?????Why is it that you have failed to show the incompetence of the Central Govt. in terms of procurement of PPE’s and Essential materials to fight COVID 19…..or in terms of blaming the spread of the virus to a particular community…….Timely Allocation of funds and GST refunds which was due to the state…. Why does the state government have to send reminders to the Central government…. We have got the best Chief Minister of all times in Maharashtra and the people of Maharashtra does not require your expert comments or advice on how Government of Maharashtra needs to handle situations like this ….. Failure to arrest the COVID 19 situation in India at its earlier stage was the failure on the part of the Central Government. Had we prepared ourselves earlier in the month of January-2020 rather than Mid March-2020 the situation would have been much more different in India.

  17. The author is bias person and has no brain to show. This is childish essay written by a person.
    He find all faults in uddhav Thackeray & expected from him as he belongs to certain ideology. These Bhakkt only made propaganda of Thali & Diya in Balcony. Now corona virus will vanished from India immediately. This was the statement of so called matured intellectuals bhakts. Has Corona Virus disappeared?? No na? Then now all we say, this is failure of Modiji? will it do for you? Same logic should be apply while writing the artical. But andha Bhakt will never do that. So lets all ignore what he is saying & appreciate the Maharashtra’s CM Uddhav Thackeray for his honest efforts.

  18. Bring in Army, then pull down Uddhav Thackeray government , impose President’s rule and Finally grab the state,
    Ultimate aim is by hook or crook be in power. This is what this article indicates. This writer is BJP’s media panelist, nothing surprising.
    Mumbai and Maharashtra is huge challenge specially in the time of pandemic like Corona and this RashraBhakta people happy to play petty politics.
    It is true that Maharashtra is on top as far as Covid 19 cases are concern, because, highest number of test has been done so far.. And this is not top secret, Whether it Maharashtra or any other state, public health system is in shambles. In this scenario, opposition should act as a responsible entity, instead BJP eyeing on Shat Pratishat Satta. For the same purpose it is using main stream media, social media very viciously, Instigating various groups, this is absolutely against the interest of the nation. And if this not, then What it is?
    Along with Corona failure, Of Uddhav Thackeray, BJP ‘s propaganda machinery busy in targeting Maharashtra CM for Palghar lynching incident. It is absolutely a shameful act both by the Police and local people. But who institutionalize this gruesome act ? who garlanded lynching accused at first place? who instilled hatred among common people ? Mind you, in Palghar incident, Victim and Accused represents same religion. Read this line again Victim and Accused represents SAME RELIGION, And by the way who are the accused ? These are the same marginalized group, which were and are being used against Muslims for many many years. And who are the Masters? It is every one’s guess…

  19. What nonsense! This article is highly biased and inappropriate. I wonder how ThePrint even allowed it to be published. You cannot compare Maharashtra with any other state in this country. Maharashtra has highest number of migrants, national and international both. Much higher than any other state. It has its own issues. In spite of that, a great share of cases is related to that one incidence in Delhi. The facts in this article are highly distorted and sound too personal. I condemn this attack on the CM and Maharashtra Government. They are doing a great job.
    Grow up, BJP and stop playing politics atleast in this hour of emergency!

  20. Army?!.Articles like these just reduce the credibility of The Print. This was a very agenda based article…. As expected by the The Print.

  21. The author is an covidiot with carona infested brain
    It’s good to criticize some one &if merit of criticism is numbers then alone Mumbai has more tests done then any other state alone so that credit goes to udhavji.
    Secondly if number of infected is criteria then top leadership of this country is more responsible because the country has 5 times more infections then Mumbai but as an true indian our CM is still with PM and in neither of his addresses has he criticized central govt despite of their baised behaviour
    Third why were airports not closed before shutting rail network both are not controlled by CM Udhavji.
    so letting infestation inside our country & not allowing our poor to get back to their native places away from infested zone was that Udhavji crime.
    Fourth – markaz was permitted by central govt as delhi police report to central not Delhi govt so who is responsible for that fiasco.
    Calling in military & stupidly deploying it in infected zones will only intensify the problems
    because if this infections do spread through our military then our bastared neighbour pakistan & china would take full advantage of this situation & our country could be in even great danger so let’s rule out military deployment.
    Now what can be done then I think day 1 approach taken bu Udhavji of tests & more tests to find & curtail infected people is the best approach if anyone can’t help atleast don’t criticize it.
    and as responsible citizen authors political party should ask Mananiya PM to help & provide more test kits to all state govt rather than just dismantling them because “what u sow ……..
    Udhavji is doing good with limited resources & coperating with central govt so same is expected from them
    And lastly in public interest get this authors brain’s covid test done on war footing as he might infest many more

  22. Hey you author i dont know how companies hire people like you. @theprint.in if you want i can write much better than this shit that people will actually love. Contact me.

  23. What nonsense! This article is highly biased and inappropriate. I wonder how Print even allowed it to be published. You cannot compare Maharashtra with any other state in this country. Maharashtra has highest number of migrants, national and international both. Much higher than any other state. It has its own issues. In spite of that, a great share of cases is related to that one incidence in Delhi. The facts in this article are highly distorted and sound too personal. I condemn this attack on the CM and Maharashtra Government. They are doing a great job.
    Grow up, BJP and stop playing politics atleast in this hour of emergency!

    • Grow up intelligent. Just because a state has many migrant workers doesn’t mean it should have many cases. The truth is, Uddhav is absolutely incompetent. Why don’t you start off by saying whats so contorted in this?

  24. Tuhin A Sinha is a loser. Looks like a copycat writer with failures in book publishing. Hence he’s taking shade under umbrella of the digital media to protect his value less ideals. It’s easy to criticize than to execute. Which probably Tuhin will never understand cause his biased, insulting words clearly depict his power greedy agenda rather than a sincere journalist’s desire to help the society. FYI, I’m not related to Maharashtra nor to politics. Hence, I can clearly see through his cunning agenda as well as this domain’s. Such a shame.

    Jai Maharashtra. Jai Hind.

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