Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday said that the Congress Government had failed miserably in handling the Covid-19 pandemic with Punjab recording the highest fatality rate in the country. At the same time, he asked the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to take stock of the situation on the ground instead of trying to control it through remote “from the comfort of his farmhouse”.
Stating that it was condemnable that Punjab had surpassed Maharashtra and Gujarat by recording a fatality rate of 2.95 percent with 2,150 casualties, Sukhbir said that senior leaders in other states were camping in worst-affected areas to grapple with the crisis. “Chief Minister Capt Amarinder, however, only believes in rattling off statistics about coming deaths instead of coming out with solutions to forestall them. It is this attitude, which also witnessed crores being spent on a self-proclamatory Mission Fateh propaganda exercise, which has spelled doom for Punjab and Punjabis,” he said.
Sukhbir said that the Congress Government’s strategy to counter COVID had been criticized by its own Health Advisor Dr KK Talwar who had indicted the Government for not conducting contact tracing of COVID positive cases in July and for failure to manage micro-containment zones.
“It is because of these failures that more than 1000 persons died due to COVID in August and now 10 districts of the State are recording cases in three figures. The situation is now getting out of control with the pandemic claiming 80 to 100 persons every day,” he added.
SAD chief also lashed out at the Government for engaging in propaganda about supply of oxymeters to people instead of ensuring supply of oxygen in both Government and Private hospitals.
Also castigating Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sukhbir said that it was shameful that he was attributing the high mortality rate in Punjab to lifestyle of Punjabis instead of admitting his failure to control the situation. “Such a Health minister, who is in the habit of defaming Punjabis, does not deserve to sit in his chair for even one minute,” he added.
Asking the Chief Minister to start working even now, Sukhbir said that all critical care centres need to be upgraded immediately, free treatment should be provided for all poor persons along with free ambulance services to encourage them to report for treatment.
“The government should also step up testing and plasma treatment facilities to win back the trust of the people who are shunning government medical institutions entirely,” he said adding that only then could the fatality rate be controlled and reduced effectively.