India Pakistan standoff: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government on Thursday announced that the budget session of the state has been curtailed by two days in the wake of heightened security face-off between India and Pakistan. “Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to curtail the budget session of the state legislature by two days,” news agency IANS quoted Fadnavis as saying. As per reports, Fadnavis made the announcement after consultations with the leaders of all the political parties at a meeting on Thursday morning and a briefing by police officials on the current security status of the state. The state's interim budget for four months was tabled in the legislature on Wednesday. The budget session commenced on Monday and was orginally expected to end on Saturday.

After intrusion from Pakistan, police in several metro cities have called for a red alert and thus the Maharashtra government curtailed budget session of the state legislature on Thursday instead of scheduled conclusion on March 2. Around 6,000 police officials will be deployed across Mumbai in the wake of security situation.

It is also reported that Maharashtra CM on Wednesday held a meeting with Opposition leaders to discuss the curtailing of the budget session. Parties including Congress and others supported the proposal of curtailing the session but asked Fadnavis to reconsider on the need to deploy 6,000 policemen.

Metro services in Delhi and Mumbai have been on high alert and security has been beefed up on the airports of these cities. Police is also keeping an eye on the vehicular traffic in major metro cities of the country. Even in Karnataka, the security agencies are on high alert since the day the Indian Air Force struck deep inside Pakistan.