Underliningthe need to continue Covid appropriate behaviour, Punjab Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh on Friday made it clear that safety restriction and norms inthe state shall continue, while ensuring minimum, if any, loss of livelihood tothe citizens of the state.
Pointingto the state’s success in managing and containing the pandemic, the ChiefMinister said in the Vidhan Sabha that a year since the pandemic broke out, hecould say with satisfaction that “we have done well, thanks to the hard work ofall the health and frontline workers, district and police administration, NGOs,local representatives, and above all, the people.”
Punjabwas thought to be potentially a high-risk State given its internationalairports, and a large diaspora, but despite being over 2.5% of India’spopulation, the cases reported in Punjab have been relatively much less @ 1.6%of the country’s 1.1 crore cases, said the Chief Minister, disclosing that 5887persons have unfortunately lost their lives in Punjab, with a currentpositivity rate of 2.3% percent, “which is otherwise low but should give us nocause for complacency.” “It appears that India is experiencing a second wave sowe have to be prepared for it,” he warned.
Notingthat the state was among the first to use Plasma, and to set up Plasma banks,the first to use steroids in Covid management, Captain Amarinder said hisgovernment had been truthful andtransparent in its reporting, and had been constantly trying to improve basedupon the state’s experiences. “Our efforts at containment and response havebeen recognized, and the Health Response Team has collaborated with experts,including those working overseas, to bring the best cutting-edge practices tothe State,” he said.
TheChief Minister listed out various measures taken by his government tostrengthen health care facilities to treat the persons affected by the virus asalso to track and trace others to prevent its spread, including ramping up oftesting capacity from NIL in March 2020 to around 30000 individual tests perday, among other initiatives. He also cited the success of Mission Fateh ingenerating awareness, besides launch of Helplines and apps for providingsupport to the people.
Laudingthe role of the farmers in ensuring successful procurement even during thepandemic, the Chief Minister said a total of Rs 62000 crore had been paid tothe farmers for the two crops procured during this period. Around 10 lakhfarmers had come to the Mandis to sell their produce, he disclosed.
Referringthe migrants’ problems amid the pandemic, Captain Amarinder said his governmenthad paid 100 percent of the cost, amounting to Rs. 35 crore, to transport over5 lakh migrant workers to their homes in 375 trains. Over 21,000 migrantworkers were also transported to their homes through 725 special buses. TheGovernment provided special buses to bring back the people of the State whowere stuck in different parts of the country due to lockdown, including about4000 pilgrims from Nanded and more than 2000 students from Kota, he added.
TheChief Minister also listed out theeffective measures undertaken by his government to alleviate socio-economicmiseries, and stress of distressed populations. These included special measureswith respect to distribution of food and medicines, empowerment of panchayatsand municipalities, advance pensions, enhanced MGNREGA works, relief toconstruction workers, hassle-free procurement of wheat and paddy, ex-gratia forgovernment employees, in addition to ensuring continuity in school education.
Besides,said the Chief Minister, recovery of taxes and bills had been deferred, whilevarious taxes and penalties had been waived off. The State Power Corporation(PSPCL) had also given various reliefs to its consumers, at a cost of about Rs500 crore. These included deferment of payment of Electricity Bills, onepercent rebate on current Energy Bills, deferment of Fixed Charges, waiver ofExtension Charges, and non-revision of Security for the electricity consumers,among others, he added.
Reliefto the real estate sector, in addition to legislative reforms, had also playeda vital role in mitigating the woes of the citizens of Punjab amid the Covidpandemic, said Captain Amarinder. Hefurther listed out initiatives taken to revive the economy and mobiliseresources as the state fights back to return to normalcy in the post-Covid environment.