Chandigarh, April 8, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to follow the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not desist from holding an All-Party meeting in the State to build a consensus on how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement here, former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was unfortunate that chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had rebuffed the offer of the SAD to hold an All-Party meeting to build a joint strategy to tackle the unprecedented situation following rise of COVID-19 cases in the State.
‘The SAD has always stood for cooperating with the State government and has always offered constructive suggestions including the need to cater to every section of society, especially the poor and under privileged during this time of crisis. It would have been good if the chief minister had taken the view of all parties and come out with an action plan which was acceptable to everyone’.
Dr Cheema said the need for an All-Party meeting was important even today because the basic things needed at the ground level to tackle COVID-19 were still not in place. He said the State had been unable to build upon its stock of PPE kits due to which there were constant protests in this regard from health workers.
He said the State presently had only two-day reserve of PPE kits. He said similarly the State needed to increase its testing capacity from its present day two hundred test capacity besides increasing the strength of ventilators in government hospitals.
The SAD leader said this was not all. ‘We need to tell farmers how many harvester combines will be available to them and how they will be utilized besides ensure availability of labour for harvesting and procurement of wheat. Farmers are still not clear if the State will facilitate them by procuring wheat at village centres or will go in for a staggered procurement with bonus being offered to farmers. ‘The State government has not even discussed and announced any bonus for wheat’, he added.
Dr Cheema said even though the government had announced that industrials units could start operations the measure did not have any effect on the ground. ‘Due to the lockdown and lack of any orders or availability of raw materials, the industry is not able to get into production. What it needs is halving of its power tariff for three months following opening of the lockdown so that it can stand back on its feet besides other concessions.
The SAD leader said there were also widespread complaints that flour and pulses which had been sent by the central government were not being distributed. He said there was also intense politization in the distribution of relief material with Congress ministers and legislators browbeating officers to distribute foodstuff at their whim and fancy. ‘An All-Party meeting could have built an effective plan for a transparent distribution of foodstuff by forming district committees for this purpose’.
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