Pune Municipal Corporation to file affidavit to present current Covid situation in Bombay HC

“It is possible that old data of the city’s Covid-19 situation was presented in the high court. The present situation is not as bad as it was in the past. There should not be any confusion and fear among citizens regarding this, hence, the PMC will submit an affidavit in the court. There is no need for a stricter lockdown in the city,” Mohol said.

Based on the Covid-19 situation report, submitted by the state government, the high court on Thursday urged the state to consider imposing a strict lockdown in the city.

“The state has submitted the Covid-19 figures in the high court but it cannot be of the current situation. The situation in the city in the past two weeks has completely changed. There is a lot of mismatch in the data released by the state,” he said, adding that the active cases count has reduced by 16,000 and the death rate has also decreased comparatively.

The PMC is also setting up seven oxygen-generating plants in the city, Mohol said.

“A lot of measures are being taken to contain the virus’s spread. Data shows there are one lakh active patients in Pune, while it is only 53,000 in Mumbai. I think this data is of the entire district. Around 39,000 active cases are there in the city at present, which was over 55,000 two weeks ago. It has reduced only due to restrictions and various measures taken by the civic body. The figure of one lakh includes that of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and the rural part of Pune.”

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“The essential services are already out of the restrictions, so there is no need for a stricter lockdown,” Mohol said. The essential commodity stores are operating from 7 am to 11 am.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he informed officials and elected representatives of the district about high court’s instructions of imposing a stricter lockdown in Pune.

“There was a discussion on it. The opinion was that the existing restrictions should continue and strictly implemented. The chief minister will take decisions on the high court directives,” he added.

“The court instructions must have come based on the entire district figure, provided by the state,” Pawar said, adding that there is a comparison of situation between Pune and Mumbai.

The court appreciated the work done by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in containing the Covid-19’s spread, he added.

“The Supreme Court too has said the BMC was doing good work in handling Covid, and if Mumbai can do, why not other cities.”

On strict lockdown for a week in his native Baramati taluka in Pune district, Pawar said the local administration has been asked to take necessary decisions based on the ground situation.

“The decision on lockdown should be based on the number of patients and availability of hospital beds,” he said, adding the active cases in urban areas are coming down, while it is rising in rural areas.

The PMC registered the peak of Covid-19 cases on April 18 with 56,036 active patients, which has now reduced to 38,481 on May 7. The positivity rate is slowing down with 14.62 percent registered on Friday.