As the fight against COVID-19 continued on war footing, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered sealing of the State’s borders besides announcing extension of the curfew till April 14.

In view of the same, Capt Amarinder asked the Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to come out with a contingency financial plan to overcome COVID-19 crisis, and ensure an uninterrupted medical and essentials supply pipeline in the current battle which “would be a long-drawn one and would need more support from the Government of India”.

In another significant decision, the Chief Minister also allowed the Local Bodies Department to extend, by three months, the services of the 2000-odd sanitation workers, who were due to retire on March 31, in order to deal with the prevailing situation.

The decision to seal the State’s border was taken by the Chief Minister following the state DGP Dinkar Gupta’s proposal for the same to check the people’s inflow, especially from Haryana.

Since both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir had locked their borders, people hailing from these States and stranded in other places were entering Punjab, the DGP pointed out, seeking the Chief Minister’s permission to block the borders.

The Chief Minister, during a video conference to discuss and review current situation in the light of COVID-19 crisis and the curfew restrictions in the State with the Ministers and top officers, directed all the concerned departments to intensify their efforts to check the spread of disease, and ensure that all essential supplies and services are maintained.

He also ordered strict enforcement of the curfew, especially in rural areas, amid reports that gatherings continued to take place in villages.

“All restrictions should be strictly enforced till April 14, after which the State will decide in line with the Government of India’s further decision,” said Capt Amarinder, adding that the lockdown was the only way to prevent the spread of the disease.

Capt Amarinder said that the state was fully prepared to deal with any contingency and urged all Government departments to continue the good work they had been doing over the past several days.

The Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Vini Mahajan informed the meeting that mobile testing vans are being made operational to increase testing in Punjab.

Giving details of the state’s preparedness, Mahajan said that 65 more ventilators, more than 1.5 lakh PPE kits and over 47000 N-95 masks, as well as 13 lakh more triple layer masks had been ordered to augment the existing equipment.

“The PPE samples of Ludhiana’s Evershine Company has received approval from the Central Testing Lab in Coimbatore, paving way for orders for the kits to be placed on priority basis. The firm has the capacity to produce 1000 such masks a day, with a lead time of five days. The AstraZeneca India’s donation of 10,000 PPE masks to Punjab has also augmented the supply of masks in the State,” she said.

She apprised the Chief Minister that manpower for 20,000 beds had been identified and their training will start from April 1, 2020, in batches.

Directing the Health Department to take all steps to strengthen anti-COVID machinery, the Chief Minister suggested opening of OPDs of private hospitals to handle other medical emergencies, and asking the Department to take up the matter with the Medical Council of India.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal stressed the need to press the Centre for immediate release of the GST arrears of the State, and also suggested that every Minister and MLA should donate a month’s salary and all Government employees should give one week’s salary to the COVID Relief Fund.

“Such a decision could not be imposed but appealed for all possible support from Government employees and others to bolster the relief operations further,” he said declaring that all donations to the CM COVID Relief Fund would be exempted from income tax.

The state DGP suggested talking to Deras and private institutes to accommodate the migrant labourers, 80 percent of whom were employed by industries before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown.

Agreeing, the Chief Minister pointed out that the Government was already in talks with the Radha Saomi Satsang to seek their help in providing shelter and food to the migrant labourers. No migrant should be allowed to remain on the streets, he said, adding that arrangements were being made to accommodate them in schools and other buildings.

Capt Amarinder made it clear that while no general relaxation had been provided to industry and brick kilns to resume operations, they had been told that they could utilize the services of the migrant labourers if they could provide food and shelter to them, while ensuring strict adherence to all COVID-19 related safety protocols.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu apprised the Chief Minister that all efforts were afoot to ensure uninterrupted and regular supply of essential commodities and services through the department officials at the people’s doorstep. The department is also taking care of food security of the rest of the country by dispatching daily 60000 MT of food grains from Punjab.

Meanwhile, Principal Secretary Food and Civil Supplies KAP Sinha briefed Capt Amarinder that NFSA beneficiaries would get their full entitlement till March 31, and under the PM Garib Anna Yojana, distribution of additional allocation of wheat and dal for the next three months shall also start from April 1, 2020.

It was also informed in the meeting that to cover the population beyond the domain of NFSA and migrant labour in the State, the Government had ordered preparation of 10 lakh packets of containing 10 kgs atta, two kgs dal and two kgs sugar each which would be distributed during this week.

On the issue of rising prices, the Principal Secretary said that the Government was fully conscious of the few reported cases of rising prices of certain commodities because of artificial scarcity created by unscrupulous elements, against whom strict action would be taken.

The Chief Minister was also informed during the conference that all arrangements were in place for procurement of wheat grain, which will commence, after some delay, around mid-April now.