26 set to attend Maharashtra budget session test positive for Covid-19
The state legislature secretariat has made a negative test report for Covid-19 mandatory for attending the legislature session for all the ministers, legislators, officials, employees and security staff
Around 26 people, including police personnel, constabularies and media persons, tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature that started from Monday.
CM Uddhav Thackarey and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Vidhan Bhavan on the first day of budget session on Monday. (Vidyadhar Rane/Hindustan Times)
“Test reports of around 26 people have been found positive for Covid-19. None of them are legislators,” said Rajendra Bhagwat, secretary, state legislature.
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The state legislature secretariat has made a negative test report for Covid-19 mandatory for attending the legislature session for all the ministers, legislators, officials, employees and security staff. It has also organised a two-day camp where tests of around 3,260 people were conducted.
Amid resurgence of Covid-19 infections in the state, a number of the state’s political leaders and ministers, including the health minister Rajesh Tope, had been declared Covid-positive earlier.
Apart from Tope, Jayant Patil (water resources minister), Dr Rajendra Shingne (food and drugs administration minister) and Bachchu Kadu (minister of state for water resources) along with Member of Parliament from BJP Raksha Khadse, have been recovering with the infection.
Faisal Malik is a senior journalist with over two and a half decades of experience covering Maharashtra’s politics, governance and public policy with a deep understanding of the state’s political landscape. He is a Senior Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times and has been associated with its Mumbai edition for more than a decade. Based in Mumbai, Faisal currently covers three major political parties in Maharashtra — Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and NCP (Sharad Pawar). Over the years, he has extensively reported on major political developments, combining investigative insights with in-depth field reporting. His coverage has spanned a wide range of issues, from drought, farmer suicides, major development projects and grassroots challenges to major electoral battles, including three Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections — 2014, 2019 and 2024. Before joining Hindustan Times, he worked with ‘The Asian Age’ and ‘Dainik Bhaskar’. An avid tea enthusiast, he enjoys reading history, Urdu literature and classical poetry. When away from the newsroom, he writes Urdu poetry inspired by human emotions, life's experiences, meaningful reflections and relationships. An amateur photographer, Faisal is passionate about capturing moments that often go unnoticed by the naked eye.
