A group of BJP MLAs led by Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Pravin Darekar had called upon the Maharashtra Governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, seeking his intervention for helping those people who are travelling by road to coastal districts of Konkan for the Ganesh festival but are getting stranded for long hours due to Covid-related scrutiny by the local police.

The Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Konkan region attract a large number of people from Mumbai, Thane and Pune during the festival. For these people, it is an annual ritual to go back to their ancestral villages in Konkan.

A press statement issued by Mumbai unit of the BJP said that many working-class people going to their native places in transport buses have to wait for over 10 hours at various locations on the State and national highways for the Covid related paperwork and quarantine formalities to be completed. The Maharashtra Government lacks the wherewithal to handle such people in large numbers. Long hours of wait is causing extreme discomfort and inconvenience to the passengers.

The 11-day Ganapati festival, which is the largest public festival in Maharashtra will be held from August 22 but due to the pandemic, the State Administration has asked people who are travelling to their native places to reach their quarantine centres by August 7 so that they can remain for 14-days and after that, they could participate in the festival at their local villages.

The statement said that due to the lack of coordination between various state agencies and shortage of travel passes, passenger buses are getting bunched up at various checkpoints along the highways. The bus owners are also charging exorbitant ticket fares for the journey.

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