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Chandigarh:
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has stated that the Rs 64 crore within the “CM Relief Fund” being questioned by the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was a minuscule of the over Rs 300 crore already spent by his authorities on offering COVID care and associated bills.
He stated the fund had been put aside by his authorities for emergency functions.
Ridiculing the SAD for criticising the state authorities for spending solely Rs 2.28 crore from the quantity accrued within the CM Relief Fund for COVID help, Mr Singh, in a press release, stated the supply of financing COVID-related expenditures was completely irrelevant.
“The important thing is that despite total absence of financial support forthcoming from the central government, of which SAD is a part, the state government has not allowed the fiscal crunch to come in the way of COVID management,” he stated.
“If the Akalis were at all concerned about COVID care in the state, they should ask the Centre why they had failed to support the Punjab government in this critical time,” the chief minister stated.
The cash being contributed by residents to the “CM Relief Fund” was an emergency fund that the state authorities had put aside to fulfill exigent pressing wants as and when required, when there isn’t any fast alternate useful resource obtainable to it, he added.
Mr Singh stated that given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, it was essential to maintain such emergency funds in readiness to fulfill any eventuality.
“However, the Akalis clearly did not believe in such emergency preparedness, as was evident from the many instances of mishandling of crisis situations during their 10-year-rule,” he added.
The Rs 64,86,10,456 steadiness within the CM Relief Fund was a drop within the ocean in comparison with the crores of rupees already spent by his authorities on infrastructural upgradation, establishing of COVID care centres, roping in extra medical and para-medical workers, buy of PPE kits and different important gear for battling the coronavirus, Mr Singh identified.
“As of date, the Health Department alone had spent nearly Rs 150 crore on COVID care essentials like VTM kits, PPE and N95, triple layer masks, drugs, consumable, oxygen cylinders, ambulances, among other things,” he stated.
The state authorities additionally spent Rs 29.5 crore on enabling 5.20 lakh migrant employees to return to their house states through 398 Shramik particular trains, the chief minister stated. Crores of rupees had been spent on meals and important provides to the poor and marginalised individuals throughout the state, he added.
“Instead of wasting their time on non-issues and misleading the people with their unwarranted and baseless accusations and allegations in this critical time, the Akalis should partner the state government in fighting the COVID pandemic,” he added.
SAD senior vice chairman and social gathering spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema stated the chief minister is “still hiding the details about the State Disaster Relief Fund which is lying undisbursed with the state with an amount of more than Rs 6,000 crore”.
The SAD chief stated the chief minister should clarify that why this fund was not utilised to compensate the lack of livelihood to lakhs of individuals from totally different sections of society, together with expert employees, every day wagers, small merchants, rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, and so forth.
The social gathering additionally raised questions on spending of Rs 29.5 crore enabling 5.20 lakh migrant labourers to return to their properties and stated that “announcement for this programme was done by none other than Congress president Sonia Gandhi and she had declared that these expenses will be borne by the Congress party”.
“This shows that the Congress party has befooled the public by using ex-chequer money while befooling the public,” Daljit Singh Cheema stated in a press release.
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