Categoricallyrejecting the allegations that Punjab government failed to tackle the Covidpandemic, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday urged the BhartiKisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) not to go ahead with their proposed dharna, which hesaid could turn into a super-spreader of the contagion.
TheChief Minister said his government had fought hard to prevent Punjab going theway of some other states, such as Delhi, Maharashtra and even Uttar Pradesh(where bodies floating in the Ganga River had exposed the total pandemicmismanagement by the BJP-ruled state.) Any event, such as the proposed 3-daydharna of the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) in Patiala, had the potential to negate thegains made by his government in tackling Covid in the state, he said.
CaptainAmarinder urged the farmers’ group not to act irresponsibly and jeopardise thelives of their own people with such reckless behaviour amid the pandemic,especially when there is a complete ban in the state on all gatherings and anyviolation of the ban would be highly detrimental to the interests of Punjab andits people. Such a dharna would draw people mainly from the villages, whichwere in any case going through a crisis during the second wave of the pandemic,he pointed out.
Thegroup’s action was also completely unwarranted considering the total supportthe state government had extended all these months to the agitating farmers onthe issue of the Centre’s black Farm Laws, said Captain Amarinder. Hisgovernment was the first to pass amendment laws in the state Assembly tocontravene the Farm Laws, he pointed out.
“It is time for the farmers now toreciprocate by supporting the state government in the fight against thepandemic,” he said, adding that just as the farmers’ interests were inexorablylinked with that of Punjab, so was Punjab’s interest dependent on the farmers’support to his government in the battle against Covid.
Pointingout that even during the peak of the second Covid surge in Punjab, things hadnot gone out of control here as they had in several other states, the ChiefMinister said the state had been one of the best performing so far as themanagement of the pandemic was concerned.
There were no widespread shortages ofOxygen in hospitals despite shortfall in supply, as the state government hadensured judicious management of the critical commodity, he noted, adding thateven availability medications, beds etc had been continuously ramped up to keeppace with the spiralling cases. This, he pointed out, was in sharp contrast tostates like Delhi, Maharashtra and UP, among others.
Theonly serious problem being faced by Punjab was the shortage of vaccines, which wasnot due to any mismanagement of the state government but that of the Centre,said Captain Amarinder, rejecting all charges of his government failing totackle the pandemic effectively.
Hepointed out that as a result of the concerted efforts of the government, themedical fraternity, the police, thecivil administration and the village panchayats (who had been conducting ThikriPehras), Punjab had successfully brought the number of cases to 5421, with 201deaths, on May 22, from a high of nearly 10000 just about two weeks ago. Butgiven the gravity of the situation, there was no scope for any laxity in Covidappropriate behaviour, and rallies or dharnas of any kind were totallyunacceptable when the lives of the people were at stake, the Chief Ministerasserted.