Stepping out akin to inviting third wave, says Maharashtra CM
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced a ‘Corona-free village’ drive to check the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas while noting that the surge in cases in some districts in the rural hinterland was a cause for concern and must be immediately stopped.
He said that the Maharashtra government had decided to extend lockdown-like restrictions in the State till June 15 and recklessly stepping out of homes was akin to giving an invitation to a third wave of the pandemic.
“For some reason, there has been a gradual increase in cases in some districts in the rural parts of the State. If every citizen here resolves to keep his or her home corona-free, then eventually their village, and ultimately the State, will be free of the scourge of the virus. Popatrao Pawar in Hiwre Bazaar, Ruturaj Deshmukh in Mohol, and Komal Karpe from Solapur have made their villages corona-free. If they have been able to manage this,
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Gram panchayat elections to be conducted for the first time in three decades in a model village Hiwre Bazar of Ahmednagar district on January 15. This drought prone village by its efforts on rural transformation and water harvest, has received the status of being a model village. Additionally, last month the village was suffering from COVID with more than 50 cases with zero cases today.
To avoid conflict the village took a collective decision on who will run the gram panchayat till the 2015 polls, the village took a collective decision on who will run the gram panchayat.
The village head, Popatrao Pawar, who was holding the position for the last 30 years said, “a collective and consensus approach was always the strength of this village, which helped Hiwre Bazaar emerge as a role model in rural development. Still, we believe in democracy and elections are a part of the process.”