This number will be increased gradually state govt will soon issue details & guidelines in this regard, said Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik.
Mumbai| On Sunday, Maharashtra government agreed to allow limited takeoffs and landings at Mumbai airport.
After some speculations and opposition on the resumption of domestic flight operations from Monday due to the increasing number of novel coronavirus cases in the state.
The state government has allowed 25 takeoffs and 25 landings every day from Mumbai.
This number will be increased gradually state govt will soon issue details and guidelines in this regard, said Minister Nawab Malik.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government yesterday said it is predicting more COVID-19 cases and demands “time to prepare” for the reopening of the air travel sector.
The lockdown cannot be lifted even by May 31, said Chief Minister.
The next 15 days would be crucial, Mr Thackeray said. “A lot of movement of people is expected, anticipating more cases as well. So things can open up only gradually. We won’t lift lockdown now. We can’t say that lockdown will be over by May 31… Need to be extra cautious during monsoon,” he added.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said he has requested the Centre to give the state some more time to resume domestic air travel.
The government has said that the Central government “arbitrarily” made the decision to permit domestic flight operations and there was no consultation with the state.
Maharashtra added that “outside airport, everything becomes state government’s responsibility”.
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Accordingly, the state has decided to wait for a discussion with the Central government before changing lockdown rules for air travel.
Maharashtra, the worst affected state by the virus, recorded over 50,000 cases and 1,454 deaths. the state recorded over 3,000 cases in the last 24 hours.
Of these, Mumbai alone reported 30,542 cases along with 988 deaths.
The total cases in India surged to 1,38,845 including over 55,000 cured/discharged or migrated and more than 4,000 deaths amid lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.
India is the 10th worst-affected country in terms of the total number of COVID-19 cases, overtaking China and Iran. However, its tally of active cases exceeds those of some top-ten countries including Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Iran.
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