Chandigarh, May 4, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Coordination Committee today condemned Congress leader Digvijay Singh for stigmatising Sikhs even as it castigated the Punjab government for mistreating pilgrims repatriated from Sri Hazur Sahib besides demanding the immediate dismissal of Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu for miserably failing to handle the COVID-19 crisis.
The Coordination Committee meeting, which was jointly presided over by SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP State President Ashwani Sharma, also noted that chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had failed to provide appropriate leadership due to which Punjab had suffered and recorded the highest death ratio in the county.
The Coordination committee also asked the centre to give bonus on the wheat MSP to help farmers in distress besides urging that a central team to dispatched to the State to inquire into the embezzlement of food material sent by the central government. It also asked the State government to compensate farmers whose wheat crops had been severely damaged due to inclement weather from the State Disaster Managment fund.
Speakers took severe umbrage at the manner in which Congressman Digvijay Singh had resorted to shameful comparison of Sikh pilgrims stranded in Sri Hazur Sahib with a religious congregation of another religion. They said this appeared to be a ploy to stigmatise Sikhs in the same manner as had been done earlier by the Congress party in 1984 by calling them “terrorists” and later in 2012 by terming them as “drug addicts”.
Both SAD and BJP leaders questioned the silence of the chief minister on the issue and asked why he had not demanded any action against Digvijay Singh till now. They also demanded that Congress president Sonia Gandhi take action against Digvijay Singh immediately.
SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned the Congress party for botching the repatriation of Sri Hazur Sahib pilgrims and later blaming them for the increase in COVID-19 cases in the State. He said the Punjab government did not follow ICMR guidelines while transporting the pilgrims back to the State and had compounded their misery by putting them in quarantine in unhygienic facilities. He said it appeared the Congress government had deliberately not taken up the offer of the SGPC to host the pilgrims in its Sarai.
Both SAD-BJP members including BJP President Ashwani Sharma demanded the immediate dismissal of Health minister Balbir Sidhu. They said the health minister had failed to uplift the health infrastructure in the last one and a half months and PPE kits as well as ventilators still remained in short supply. The members said the situation was such that health workers were refusing to use the PPE kits purchased by the department and that this itself was a big scam. The members said even the testing procedure and results of the State government were doubtful.
The members also expressed deep concern at the flight of Lakhs of migrant labourers from Punjab in the next few days and noted that the State government did not take efforts to stop this flight. They said this would affect paddy transplantation severely and asked the the government to stagger the transplantation season by removing the transplantation ban till June 15. It also asked the government to give regular power supply for sowing of cotton crop.
The SAD-BJP Coordination Committed also asked the Punjab government to tell what it had done in the last one and a half months to mitigate the suffering of the people. It said the State was making a lot of hue and cry despite receiving central funds and not spending them in the field. It said the government had failed to give any benefit to Kheti mazdoor and daily wagers who had lost their livelihood.
It said nothing had been done for the common man. It demanded that the government waive off rent of Municipal Corporation and Committee shops as well as those of the Improvement Trust. It said similarly power and water bills should be halved and supply of fodder and medicines to ‘gaushalas’ should be ensured.
It said even the industry could not restart in the State despite announcements because no concessions had been made to the sector, including taking up burden of interest of loans taken to pay workers as had been done by Haryana .
It was also decided to form district level Coordination committees. A two member State level coordination committee comprising Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Jiwan Gupta has also been formed.
The meeting also condoled the passing away of Bibi Amarpal Kaur, the wife of SGPC President Gobind Singh Longowal.
The meeting was specially attended by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. It was also attended by Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Jathedar Tota Singh, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Charanjit Singh Atwal, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Babi Jagir Kaur and Bikram Singh Majithia and Dinesh Sharma, Madan Mohan Mittal, Vijay Sampla, Brij Lal Rinwa, Tikshan Sud, Manoranjan Kalia, Rajinder Bhandari, Tarun Chugh Subhash Sharma and Malvinder Singh Kang.
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