Mumbai is among the leading hotspots of the novel coronavirus in India. Mumbai houses the largest slum in the country which increases the chances of this virus dwelling in the streets of this city. Since the number of COVID 19 cases are reaching great heights in the town, the lockdown in Mumbai, which was supposed to end on the 17th of May, will be extended further. The Maharashtra Minister himself has confirmed this piece of news. One thousand new COVID 19 cases had been reported on Thursday, the 14th of May, that makes the total number of cases in the city to be 16,500.

Maharashtra’s Industry Minister Subhash Desai, after a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, the 14th of May, announced that the lockdown shall be extended in Mumbai and some other major cities.

“Looking at the way cases have been going up in big cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Malegaon, Aurangabad, it seems the lockdown may be extended. It will have to be done because of the situation. The government focus is on the health of the people. The first focus is that. Then, of course, there is industry and economy.”, said Subhash Desai, Maharashtra’s Industry Minister.

“Maharashtra has demanded a special economic package for Mumbai from the centre. Several decisions have been taken to get the economy on track.”, further added the minister.

Currently, the state is dealing with the problem of migrant workers returning home. This problem, in turn, could slow down the restart of economic activities. To deal with this problem, Maharashtra will set up an employment bureau.

“We have decided to set up an employment bureau for industrial and commercial workers. And here we will register all those job seekers in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled categories and then we will interact with the employers who want employees. We will send these employees from our exchange to them.”, said Subhash Desai, Maharashtra’s Industry Minister.

“We have forty thousand hectares of open land with us. Our industrial corporations proudly possess such big land parcels across the state in different districts with complete infrastructure. Electricity, water, plots, everything is ready. Maharashtra is also blessed with a skilled manpower pool. The Industries Minister also told NDTV that businesses and offices have to get used to working with less number of people. “Businesses are now developing a habit of working with fewer people. This will provide an atmosphere for them to work comfortably with a smaller number of employees.”, said the minister.