Cases filed against Maha BJP chief among others for flouting Covid-19 norms

The Maharashtra government has imposed restrictions on the entry of people at places of worship, among others, to check the spread of Covid-19.

Police registered a case against Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, Pune city mayor Murlidhar Mohol, BJP's Pune president Jagdish Mulik among several other party workers on Wednesday for allegedly violating guidelines in place to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil along with party supporters performs a ritual at a temple in Pune on Monday, during a protest demanding the reopening of religious places. (ANI)

The BJP had on Tuesday staged protests across the state to demand reopening of temples and religious places. The Maharashtra government has imposed restrictions on the entry of people at places of worship, among others, to check the spread of Covid-19.

However, the BJP threatened the Uddhav Thackeray government that it would "forcefully open" the temples and other religious places if the state administration doesn't reopen them.

This is despite the Union health ministry advising the Maharashtra government to restrict religious activities and put curbs on celebrations during the ongoing festival season as the threat of a potential third wave of Covid-19 looms large.

Former Maharashtra finance minister and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar questioned the decision of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to prevent the people from entering the places of worship even thiugh it allowed bars, liquor shops and malls to reopen and fully vaccinated commuters to board trains.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday that his government is not anti-religion or against any festivals, but only against Covid-19 outbreak.

On Monday, the state government prohibited all sorts of public gatherings, including human pyramids, for the Dahi Handi festival, which was observed on Tuesday.

However, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena defied the ban and held the ceremony at many places, including Thane, Kalachowki, Dadar, Mulund and Mankhurd. Mumbai police booked at least four MNS workers in Worli for flouting Covid-19 norms.

Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 4,456 cases of Covid-19 infection and 183 related deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the overall caseload to 64,69,332. The state now has 51,078 active cases.