Federation of Western India Cine Employees urges Maha CM not to impose lockdown again

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees on Friday wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging his government to not impose lockdown, amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the state.

The federation said imposition of lockdown once again can hamper the daily living of the scores of hands working for the media and entertainment industry.

"Though we are concerned about the situation in the city, on behalf of scores of actors, workers and technicians of the entire media and entertainment industry, we hereby urge the government not to impose any more lockdowns as it has already harmed the economy of the entertainment industry earlier and people are trying to recover from the losses incurred due to the earlier lockdown," read the letter signed by the president of the federation BN Tiwari and other members of the federation.

"We strongly urge you and your government to not impose this lockdown once again and disturb the economy of this largest revenue-generating industry and it will hamper the daily living of the scores of hands working in the industry," it said.

Thackeray on Sunday had instructed senior officials of the State Health Department and the COVID task force to prepare for lockdown.

Maharashtra reported 43,183 new COVID-19 cases and 249 deaths on Thursday. The state has been the biggest contributor of coronavirus cases on a daily basis in the country in the past few weeks. The state currently has 367,897 active coronavirus cases and has reported over 54,000 related deaths so far.

( With inputs from ANI )