The chief minister said the Punjab had not allowed the budget crisis to occur in the management of Covid. (File)
Chandigarh:
The Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh, said the Rs 64 crore in the “CM Relief Fund” questioned by the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was a tiny of the more than Rs 300 crore already spent by his government to provide COVID care and related expenses.
He said the fund had been set aside by his government for emergency purposes.
Ridiculing the SAD for criticizing the state government for spending only Rs 2.28 crore of the amount accumulated in the CM Relief Fund for COVID support, Mr. Singh, in a statement, said the source funding for COVID-related expenses was totally irrelevant.
“The important thing is that despite the total absence of financial support from the central government, of which SAD is a part, the state government has not allowed the budget crisis to hamper management of COVID, ”he said.
“If the Akalis were at all concerned about the coverage of COVID in the state, they should ask the Center why they have not supported the government of Punjab at this critical time,” the chief minister said.
Money donated by citizens to the “CM Relief Fund” was an emergency fund that the state government had set aside to meet urgent urgent needs when needed, when there is no immediate alternative resource available, he added.
Mr Singh said given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, it was important to keep these emergency funds ready for any eventuality.
“However, the Akali clearly did not believe in such emergency preparedness, as evidenced by the numerous cases of mismanagement of crisis situations during their 10-year reign,” he added.
The balance of Rs 64,86,10,456 in the CM Relief Fund was a drop in the ocean compared to the crores of rupees already spent by his government on the modernization of infrastructure, the establishment of COVID care centers, the recruitment additional medical and paramedical staff, the purchase of PPE kits and other essential equipment to fight the coronavirus, Singh said.
“To date, the Ministry of Health alone has spent nearly 150 crore rupees on essential COVID care such as VTM kits, PPE and N95, triple layer masks, drugs, consumables, oxygen cylinders, ambulances, among others, ”he said.
The state government has also spent 29.5 crore rupees to enable 5.20 lakh of migrant workers to return to their home countries via 398 special Shramik trains, the chief minister said. Thousands of rupees have been spent on food and essential supplies for the poor and marginalized across the state, he added.
“Instead of wasting their time on unrelated issues and misleading the people with their unwarranted and baseless accusations and allegations at this critical time, the Akali should join the state government in the fight against the COVID pandemic, “he added.
SAD Senior Vice President and party spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said the chief minister “is still hiding details about the National Disaster Relief Fund, which is not disbursed with the ‘State with an amount of over Rs 6,000 crore “.
The head of SAD said the chief minister should explain why this fund was not used to compensate for the loss of livelihoods of lakhs of people from different sections of society, including skilled workers, daily bets , small traders, rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, etc.
The party also raised questions about spending Rs 29.5 crore allowing migrant workers of 5.20 lakh to return home and said that “the announcement of this program was made by none other than the president of the Congress Sonia Gandhi and she had declared that these expenses would be borne by the Congress party “.
“This shows that the Congress Party deceived the public by using money from former controllers while deceiving the public,” Daljit Singh Cheema said in a statement.
