IN the first part of this report last week, the Corona lockdown relief work conducted by the CPI(M) and mass fronts in Mumbai, Palghar and Thane districts was outlined. In this second and concluding part, the work in some of the other districts in Maharashtra is recounted.   SOLAPURIn Solapur, the CPI(M) and all mass organisations are trying hard to help the victims of the lockdown. With the help of local NGOs, our activists are distributing food, grocery and other essentials to the needy.

EVEN though the first Covid-19 case in India was detected on January 30, the government of India failed to take proper steps to combat it until March. The nationwide lockdown call given by prime minister Narendra Modi leaving only four hours of preparation time, had become a cause of misery for millions of Indians across the country. The Andhra Pradesh state government didn’t pay attention to the Covid-19 warning till the local body elections were postponed.In this background, the unorganised workers, migrant labour and the poor people were left in lurch.

MAHARASHTRA is the state in the country that has so far been most severely affected by Covid-19, both in terms of the number of cases and the deaths resulting from it. Mumbai and Pune cities have been the worst affected. There have been cases reported in 23 of the 36 districts.Comrades of the CPI(M) and those of all mass fronts – CITU, AIKS, AIAWU, DYFI, SFI, AIDWA – in several districts have been in the forefront of relief work for the migrants and the poor. The first part of this report covers Mumbai, Palghar and Thane districts.

KERALA chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked prime minister Narendra Modi to ensure that personal protection equipment (PPE) is provided for hundreds of Indian nurses working across the country and abroad. He made the demand after a whopping 46 Malayalee nurses working in Mumbai have tested positive for Covid-19.As many as 345 people in Kerala have been tested positive for Covid-19 as on April 8 and nine new cases were reported on the day. Pinarayi said that 212 people from the state had attended the Tablighi meeting in Delhi and 15 of them have tested positive for Covid-19.

PUNJAB state secretary of the CPI(M), Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, on March 29 wrote a letter to the chief minister of Punjab, Captain Amrinder Singh, regarding the plight of the migrant workers, transporters and other sections of the society in Punjab and demanded his intervention to address the woes because of the ongoing lockdown in the state.He said the Punjab state committee of CPI(M) appreciates the steps taken by the government to face the challenge of Covid-19 in Punjab and assured full co-operation of the CPI(M) for successful implementation of the guidelines of the government.