India News | Despite COVID-19, Maha Got Rs 52,000 Crore Investments: CM

Mumbai, Nov 27 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said even though he spent eight months tackling the coronavirus pandemic since taking over reins a year ago, the state managed to attract substantial investments.

Speaking to journalists on completing one year in office, Thackeray said despite the coronavirus outbreak that began in March, Maharashtra attracted investments of Rs 52,000 crore.

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His government disbursed Rs 19,644 crore as part of its farm loan waiver scheme to over 30 lakh farmers, he said.

Over 2.5 crore 'Shiv Bhojan' affordable meals were supplied from 906 centres, he said.

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The government also procured a record quantity of cotton, and distributed Rs 13,298 crore as cyclone relief, the chief minister said.

Thackeray said the state-run electricity distribution utility, popularly known as MahaVitaran, run up a revenue deficit of Rs 15,000 crore between April and October this year but all efforts were made to ensure people did not have to face power outages.

During virtual meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the coronavirus situation, he had suggested standardization of the scope of lockdown, interstate travel rules and COVID-19 test protocol, Thackeray said.

He also sought clarification on whether the Centre will distribute the vaccine or the state governments, he said.

He had spoken to Adar Poonawala of Serum Institute of India, one of the firms involved in vaccine manufacturing, on its availability, side-effects, cost and logistics, the chief minister said.

On the preparedness in case of a second wave of infections, the CM said there were 359 government and 117 private testing labs in the state, besides adequate number of beds in 3,793 hospitals.

"There are 59,739 beds which are oxygen supported, and 8,199 ventilators. In March, there were 7,722 beds in 211 hospitals, 3,091 ICU beds, 1,143 ventilators. While present oxygen requirement (for COVID-19 treatment) is 250 metric tonnes, production capacity is 1,081 metric tonnes," Thackeray informed.

The second phase of the state's anti-COVID-19 drive, named 'my family, my responsibility', will be launched soon, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)