Mumbai, Dec 1 (PTI) Amid a surge in measles cases in Maharashtra, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday asked the state government to create a dashboard of daily cases and apprise citizens on the prevailing situation and vaccination camps conducted to curb the spread of the viral disease.Chaturvedi, who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, claimed the Maharashtra government has been slow in implementation of guidelines issued by the Centre in tackling the measles outbreak in the state.She wrote a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding that Health Minister Tanaji Sawant apprise people about the measles situation in the state and take necessary steps to curb its spread.The Rajya Sabha member demanded creation of a daily dashboard of measles cases on the lines of a similar mechanism initiated by the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure transparency and accountability in management of the outbreak.“Considering the impact of the outbreak on the people of Maharashtra, it is imperative of the Minister for Health (Sawant) to apprise the general public on the status of the number of cases reported and vaccination camps conducted,” she said.The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader urged the state government to take necessary actions to ensure prevention and containment of the outbreak.Vaccination against the infectious disease, especially found among children, must be urgently ramped up by launching a door-to-door drive, she said.On Wednesday, the state health department said Maharashtra has so far recorded 724 measles cases and 15 deaths linked to the disease, most of them from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).On Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said 1,34,833 children aged nine months to five years will be inoculated along with other vulnerable age groups in the metropolis.These kids will receive additional dose (special dose) at 33 health points from December 1, it said.The BMC has said 3,496 children aged between six and nine months in 13 health posts in Mumbai, where measles cases in the age group of less than nine months have been reported, will also be given an additional dose of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine.Amid an increase in measles cases, the Centre last week asked states to consider administering an additional dose of the vaccine to all children aged nine months to five years, in vulnerable areas. Recently, a rise in number of measles cases was reported from certain districts of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala and Maharashtra.“Despite the visits of the central government"s team to study the status of the outbreak, the implementation of guidelines issued so far has been slow in the state (Maharashtra). Given the highly contagious nature of the disease, and lives of millions of children of Maharashtra at stake, prompt action is required on the part of the state government,” Chaturvedi said. PTI PR RSY RSY