All well, no third wave expected: Mumbai civic body tells HC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Monday told the Bombay High Court that it doesn’t apprehend a third wave of COVID to strike the city as vaccination programme is on track with over 42 lakh people fully vaccinated and over 82 lakh people having received the first jab.

Representing the BMC in the high court, counsel Anil Sakhare informed a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni that 2,586 bed-ridden people have already been given both the doses of the vaccine while 3,942 such people have been administered the first jab.

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“The work is on. It is going on smoothly. Now, there is no shortage of vaccines too. Mumbai is safe. We do not see a third wave (of the COVID-19) coming,” Sakhare said.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari earlier this year, seeking a direction to both the Union and Maharashtra governments to start door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens aged 75 and above, specially-abled people and those who are bed-ridden.

The plea said such people would not be in a position to step out of their houses to go to the vaccination centres and inoculated.

The Centre which had earlier said that door-to-door vaccination wouldn’t be possible, recently gave it a go-ahead.

The Maharashtra government in August said it would initiate the drive and had started door-to-door vaccination of bed-ridden people as a pilot project.

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On Monday, Kapadia told the court that the purpose of filing the PIL was served as now even the Centre has framed a policy to vaccinate such people at their homes. The court then disposed of the PIL and said, “We are happy now that even these persons are not deprived of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

(With inputs from agencies)