The rising positive cases of Covid-19 have alarmed everyone with the government trying to instill coronavirus protocols so that the spread of the infection can be curtailed. Last evening, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray addressed the state and urged everyone to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Although he did not impose a lockdown in the state which has seen a massive increase of Covid-19 cases, he did warn people that the government will be left with no option if the public do not take care.
On Friday, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has written to the CM requesting him not to impose another lockdown. Chief Advisor, Ashoke Pandit of FWICE (Federation Of Western India Cine Employees) took to his Twitter handle and requested the CM to not impose a lockdown and shared the copy of the letter. He tweeted, “FwiceMum requests Hon’ble CM ji not to impose complete lockdown as it will create a lot of fear, panic in the industry which is already in shambles. We assure the Govt. of Maharashtra of taking full precautions as per its SOPs & guidelines."
.@fwicemum urges & requests Hon’ble CM @OfficeofUT ji not to impose complete lockdown as it will create a lot of fear, panic in the industry which is already in shambles.
We assure the Govt. of Maharashtra of taking full precautions as per its SOPs & guidelines. #FWICE pic.twitter.com/Exbnd9lAku— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) April 2, 2021
The letter was signed by FWICE President BN Tiwari, Chief Advisor Ashoke Pandit and other board members, stated that the entertainment industry has still not recovered from the losses incurred due to the first lockdown, and a second lockdown will only worsen the situation. The letter read, “One whole year had passed with no work and no income, distressed lives and no food, hunger-stricken families and deprived children. It was a very dreadful and sorry state of people who were left alone to fight their own battles of hunger and poverty with absolutely no aid from any Government body (Neither State nor Central). The community of producers and top actors, actresses who then came together to the rescue of the daily wage earners of the media and entertainment industry and contributed at large to provide daily bread to this sole earners of families. Now the situation may even go worse as these community of producers, actors and actresses who helped our brethren are themselves not in a position to provide any further aid to these daily wage workers and technicians.”
It further added, “The financial losses caused by the previous layoffs have not yet been recovered. Many people are still unemployed today. Unemployment would rise again if the government imposes the lockdown again. We strongly urge you and your Government to not impose this lockdown once again and disturb the economy of this largest revenue-generating industry. It will hamper the daily living of the scores of hands working in the industry. Difficult times do come and go. The need of the hour is to fight this deadly disease and cut off its spread by taking all precautions and we in the industry assure you of abiding by all the rules and regulations.”
Today, I am giving an indication for a complete lockdown, but not announcing it formally. If things do not improve visibly in a couple of days and if no other solution is found, we will have to announce another lockdown like it is being done globally.
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) April 2, 2021
Meanwhile, a slew of Bollywood and Television actors have contracted the coronavirus in the past few days. Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kartik Aaryan, Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Paresh Rawal, Tara Sutaria, among others were diagnosed with the infection and are now on their path to recovery.
(Source: Twitter)
