No ban on firecrackers in Maharashtra, CM Uddhav Thackeray urges people to exercise discipline

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday urged people to celebrate Diwali without firecrackers as cases of infection due to Covid-19 see a downward trend in the state. He said that he will not impose a ban and requested people to show self-discipline and celebrate firecrackers-free Diwali.

“Whatever we have achieved (in controlling Covid-19) will go away in four days due to pollution through firecrackers,” Thackeray said in an appeal. “No firecrackers in public places. I am not imposing a ban on crackers or an Emergency,” he also said.

“We can ban firecrackers but we can avoid bursting firecrackers by exercising self-discipline,” said CM Thackeray.

Referring to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the national capital, Thackeray said, “The Covid curve is coming down in Maharashtra and Mumbai with discipline and determination of the people. We are seeing that cases are going up in Delhi. It is due to pollution.”

“15 days after Diwali are still crucial. We should be cautious so that the need for lockdown does not arise again” he also said.

This comes as a number of states have banned firecrackers ahead of Diwali, including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and West Bengal, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the cases of the viral respiratory disease fall in Maharashtra, Thackeray announced reopening of places of worship and said will prepare the guidelines after Diwali. Once the worst-affected state by Covid-19, Maharashtra has been reporting a steady fall in Covid-19 cases since the last week of October. However, the number of deaths has not reduced in proportion. So, the case fatality rate (CFR) is yet to come down.

As of Saturday evening, the state have 17,14,273 total Covid-19 cases out of which 99,151 were active cases. The death toll stood at 45,115.