MUMBAI: Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray interacted with leading industrialists on Sunday and appealed to them to take care of labourers and employees and adhere to Covid-19 norms.
He separately assured film and TV producers that shoots would be allowed as soon as Covid cases were controlled.
He said to the industrialists that he wanted the state to suffer neither a lockdown by the state government nor a knockdown by the pandemic, but wanted to set an example before the country by keeping the industrial sector functioning despite Covid-19.
Prominent industrialists, including Uday Kotak, Sanjiv Bajaj, B Thiagarajan, Naushad Forbes, Amit Kalyan, Ashok Hinduja, A N Subramanyam, Ajay Piramal, Harsh Goenka and Niranjan Hiranandani, were at the session, along with state Covid task force members Dr Sanjay Oak and Dr Shashank Joshi.
Thackeray said the state was taking a “calculated risk” by easing curbs at various levels.
He said the state had upgraded its infrastructure.
“Industrial units should keep proper health-related records of their labourers and employees and their families as well those hailing from other states.
They should not be responsible for spreading Covid infection while moving to their respective states or returning to Maharashtra,” he said.
On the threat of a third wave, he said that if a lockdown was imposed again, manufacturing should not suffer.
“They [industries] should plan to set up temporary accommodation for staff and labourers on premises and provisions should be made to tackle health issues,” he said.
The industrialists suggested vaccination of construction and unorganised sector workers.
They said IT workers could work from home for a month more.
On the demand of film and TV serial producers that shooting should be allowed in Mumbai now, the CM said the local disaster management authority will decide on it.