Pegging the April revenue shortfall for Punjab at 88 per cent, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that with all tax revenues dried up and only 1.5 percent of the industry currently operational, Punjab was facing a difficult financial situation, which was compounded by absence of aid from the Central Government.
Capt Amarinder, participating in a video conference of Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states with party president Sonia Gandhi along with former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, shared Punjab’s Covid containment strategy and the roadmap for economic revival.
During the meeting, Sonia asked the Chief Minister to convey her congratulations to the State’s farmers for a smooth procurement season, with the latter disclosing that more than 100 lakh MT had arrived in the mandis already, and the entire procurement process was expected to be completed by mid-May.As against the estimated revenues of Rs 3,360 crore for April, only Rs 396 crore had been received during the month, the Chief Minister said,
adding that the state’s power consumption had declined by 30 percent with a daily loss of Rs 30 crore in collection of electricity tariff to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. In addition, the State’s GST arrears of Rs 4,365.37 crore are yet to be paid by the Government of India, he pointed out.
The initial report of the Group of Experts headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on the economic and industrial revival of the State, was likely to be received in three months, and it would take another month after that to refine and finalise the same, said Capt Amarinder.
However, he said that despite the financial crunch, Punjab Government was committed to prepare the society and common man to manage and contain coronavirus, and was also taking every possible step to upgrade and readjust state’s healthcare system to meet the challenges of Covid-19.
The Chief Minister was of the opinion that the decision on classification of zones as red, orange or green should be left to the states, which, in turn, could authorize the Deputy Commissioners to demarcate as per the ground realities.
“Main concern is that the people sitting in Delhi are deciding on classification of zones without knowing what’s happening on the ground,” he said.He cited the example of Patiala being classified as a red zone, even though Nabha – a major milk-producing area – is located in the district. Punjab currently has four containment zones and four red zone districts, with 15 districts in orange zone and the remaining three in green.Providing an update on the Covid status in Punjab, the Chief Minister said that there had been a spike in cases in the State after Punjabis residing outside Punjab started coming back from Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
Of the 4200-odd persons who had returned from Nanded, 969 had tested positive, though only 23 of them were symptomatic, and some results were awaited, he said, adding that the spike was expected to end, with the situation stabilizing in the next three-four days, once testing of all such people is completed. All returnees are now being checked and quarantined, he added.
The Chief Minister warned of high risk of spread of infection in Punjab from those returning to the State especially the workers coming back from the Gulf in crowded ships.
Four ships of migrants, mostly labourers, were expected to arrive in the next few days, while the first plane with NRIs was expected to reach Punjab on Thursday, he said.Giving details, the Chief Minister said around 20,000 international travelers are expected to return to Punjab in the next three-four weeks, in addition to around 12,000 who had registered in other states for coming back.
As for the migrant workers wanting to go back from Punjab to their native states, he disclosed that 10 lakh had registered so far, of which 85 percent belonged to UP and Bihar.
The State Government has sanctioned Rs 35 crore to provide for train travel cost of these workers, he said, adding that three trains left on May 5 for UP and Jharkhand and six more were scheduled for May 6. “Railways is charging Rs 870 per ticket, which the state is paying,” he said.“The Government has drawn up a comprehensive strategy to contain the spread…All persons coming back will be kept in quarantine for about one week until they have been tested for the virus,” he said adding that persons testing negative will be placed in home quarantine for another two weeks, while those testing positive will be placed in containment wards.
The Chief Minister also shared details of issues raised by his Government with the Centre including pending GST arrears, demand for revenue grant for the next three months, review of current year report by 15th Finance Commission, among others.
The State Government was also pursuing for relief to the poor and daily wage agricultural and industrial labour including migrant workers who are badly affected due to loss of jobs or employment, he said, adding that the state had also sought urgent relief for MSMEs and the Power sector.