MUMBAI :
Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday expressed concern for Maharashtra which has been worst-hit from the pandemic as the State has recorded 223 COVID-19 fatalities out of 590 deaths across India.
Interacting with the people through Facebook Live, he gave the instances of the countries like the US, Italy, Spain and France which have witnessed a staggering number of deaths running into multiples of thousands.
He told that the US has recorded 40,683 pandemic deaths similarly the mortality rates have crossed the 20,000-mark in Italy and Spain. These countries, he mentioned, are roughly the size of Maharashtra which has alone tallied nearly halve of the deaths compared to the national figure.
Juxtaposing the death tolls of these nations with the sheer population of India, Mr Pawar asserted that its’ cause of concern as certain places in the State, prominently Mumbai, neighbouring Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli, and Pune have surging number of confirmed cases.
The health crisis is also impacting the economy, he said, adding that social distancing is the glimmer of hope as people should strictly follow the lockdown norms and strive to shrink the footprint of the contagion and resultant deaths.
Condemning the Palghar mob lynching incident, the veteran politician stated that the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched a probe into the grisly episode. He called for unity saying that joining of hands is must so as to tide over the prevailing crisis.
Lastly, he appealed the Muslim community to perform prayers at home during the holy month of Ramzan, which will commence in coming four or five days. Pray to Allah to pull you out of this epidemic, he remarked.
