The Maharashtra government’s decision to shut down educational institutions and public places like malls and multiplexes in Mumbai to check the spread of swine flu has not gone down well with Union Minister Sharad Pawar who is said to have expressed his reservations against the move at a Cabinet meeting here on Thursday.

Apprehensive of its “political fallout” in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state, Pawar reportedly said there was “no need” for such a move.

“How long are we going to do it (the shutdown)? Elections are approaching,” said the NCP chief at the Cabinet meeting. Some ministers were, however, said to have countered him, saying that the timing of the shutdown was right as it would otherwise turn worse by the time of elections.

Some Cabinet Ministers even recommended adoption of the Mexican model — where the government had suspended all non-essential economic activities for several days last April — to check the spread of swine flu in the country, according to sources present at the Cabinet meeting.

Many Cabinet Ministers were said to have expressed their disapproval of the way “panic” was being created about swine flu.