Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh wanted all Punjabis to keep their guard up. Asserting that the Punjab Government is all prepared to handle the Covid crisis, he made an impassioned appeal to the people on Sunday to strictly adhere to the safety protocols and restrictions to save themselves, their families and the State.
Though the State had adequate essential equipment to manage any further spread of the pandemic, which it had been largely able to control so far, the Chief Minister said that he did not wish the stocks to be pulled out of storage for use as his entire focus was on saving lives.
Capt Amarinder, responding to questions during the latest Facebook Live edition of #AskCaptain, said that the Covid situation in Punjab had, so far, been manageable due to the strict lockdown imposed in the State and the people’s cooperation.
“However, it has become essential now to ease some of the restrictions, but that does not mean that people could be allowed to violate the safety protocols,” he said, terming as unfortunate the large number of violations being reported, forcing the police to take strict action.
Citing figures, Capt Amarinder said that on Friday alone, 4,600 challans had been imposed for failure to wear mask in public, 160 for spitting, and around two dozen for not adhering to social distancing norms.
“Such irresponsible behaviour could not be permitted as it could push Punjab on the same path as many other states in India,” he warned, pointing out that with 2.5 percent of the country’s population, the State was currently contributing a mere 0.5 percent of the Covid cases.
The Chief Minister said that Punjab’s situation had been under control so far. “However, the State Government is not taking any chances,” he added.
In the first stage, 4248 beds in government hospitals had been set aside, with another 2014 now being added, while the private hospitals had allocated 950 beds for Covid patients, he said adding that the total number of isolation centres identified to accommodate a large number of cases if the crisis aggravates stands at 52 government and 195 private.
‘GO TO GOVT HOSPITALS’
Responding to a complaint of private hospitals charging exorbitantly for admitting Covid-19 patients, the Chief Minister said that he will ask the Medical Department to check. However, at the same time, he urged the people to go to Government Hospitals which were equipped with the best-in-class facilities and staff, and had shown an excellent record in terms of enabling recovery of Covid patients.
ON CENTRE’s AGRI REFORMS
Referring to the Centre’s so-called Agriculture reforms, the Chief Minister made it clear that the Punjab Government will take tough measures to counter the move to obstruct smooth agricultural marketing processes that had worked successfully for 60 years. He said that he will write to the Prime Minister, who he said should understand the farmers’ problems, having himself been the Chief Minister of the agricultural state of Gujarat.
Expressing concern over the Centre’s clear intent to do away with the MSP regime, Capt Amarinder said that the Punjab Government will fight any such move tooth and nail, and will not allow the interests of its farmers, who had given the nation its food security, to be compromised in any manner.
LABOUR SHORTAGE FOR PADDY CULTIVATION
To a question regarding problems being faced in paddy sowing due to the shortage of migrant labour, the Chief Minister pointed out that less than five lakh of the total 13 lakh migrant labourers in Punjab had left the state. With over eight lakh migrant workers still here, along with the state’s own local labour, there were no problems in the field or in the industrial units, he said. In any case, farmers, with the support of the PAU and the Agriculture Department, were going for direct sowing in large numbers, he said.
MORE RELIEF FOR POWER CONSUMERS
Capt Amarinder assured another citizen that his government will try to provide more relief to power consumers next year as the current situation had constrained PSPCL, which, despite the cash crunch, had announced domestic power tariff cuts for the poor and the small consumers. The move had benefitted nearly 68 lakh of the total 70 lakh domestic consumers, he added.
CAPT GETS EMOTIONAL AS ELDERLY PATIALVI REQUESTS TO SHARE A CUP OF TEA
Clearly touched by the wish of a Patiala resident Manjeet, who said he had been Capt Amarinder’s agent in his first election in 1980, to have a cup of tea with him, the Chief Minister said that he will personally arrange for the same soon. “Stay healthy, you are not going anywhere. We have to fight more elections together,” said Capt Amarinder, in response to Manjeet’s remark that he was not keeping well.