Maha govt aims to prevent COVID spread, says Aditya Thackeray as BJP protests to allow vaccinated people on Mumbai trains

Maharashtra minister Aditya Thackeray on Friday said that the main aim of the state government was to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection in the state.

"We have tried to increased hospitals, medical facilities, and supply of oxygen, but it should be our first responsibility that people don't get infected," Thackeray said addressing reporters here today.BJP has been holding protests to resume the local train service in Mumbai and Thackeray said the opposition party should refrain from playing politics. "Doing protests is fine but also political parties need to act more responsibly. Rather than playing politics, we should focus on saving the lives of our people

In Maharashtra local train services, which are also called the lifeline of Mumbai, are currently operational for just essential service employees due to the corona outbreak. Recently, the demand for resumption of suburban train services for the general public has been gaining steam

Many BJP workers protested in the city for this earlier today. Yesterday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey had declared that the Maharashtra government is considering opening the local train services for all.

The Maharashtra tourism minister also said that the state government was resolute about getting Mumbaikars fully vaccinated and had teamed up with private organisations to reach out to more people in lesser time.

"A lot of private hospitals have come forward to tie up with local municipal corporations to vaccinate people for free. Companies like Reliance have come forward with 1.5 lakh vaccines, Jaslok has also committed to giving another 50,000 vaccines. Nanavati hospital is also helping in this. In Dharavi, they have committed 1 lakh vaccines," Aditya Thackeray said.

Meanwhile, the minister today launched the Mithi River Clean-Up project by MMRDA in collaboration with the Marine Debris Partnership. This project will make use of a special machine developed by Finland's RiverRecycle, which would collect floating plastic waste to clean the river and recycle it.

"This pilot project is first of its kind in India and will transform Mithi river. Evaluating the trial run, we aim to extend this further to the other rivers in the city," Thackeray said.

( With inputs from ANI )