Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said donations by Chinese firms to PM CARES Fund should be immediately returned by the Centre amid the ongoing stand-off between India and China.
“Various amounts have been received in PM CARES Fund from Chinese companies. At a time when confrontation is going on, I think the money should be returned. We need to take a tough stance on China. We can’t take Chinese money while our soldiers are being killed. Firstly, they (China) are responsible for COVID-19 and secondly, they are responsible for aggression against my country. India doesn’t need Chinese money to look after itself,” said Capt. Amarinder at a press conference here.
On the issue of reopening the Kartarpur Corridor in the backdrop of Pakistan’s offer, the Chief Minister said he was in favour of opening the corridor with adherence to social distancing norms, but it’s the Central government that has to take a decision.
With necessary arrangements in place to combat any emergent situation to tackle COVID-19, Capt. Amarinder expressed hope that there would be no further lockdown. He, however, made it clear that he would act firmly to not let novel coronavirus spread in Punjab.
He said that COVID-19 testing capacity would be enhanced to 20,000 per day by July-end from 10,000 per day currently with the addition of four new testing labs. “The State has adequate equipment to manage any further spread of the pandemic,” he said.
“In the first stage, 4,248 beds in government hospitals had been set aside, with another 2,014 now being added, while the private hospitals had allocated 950 beds for COVID-19 patients. The total number of isolation centres identified to accommodate a large number of cases if the crisis aggravates stands at 52 government and 195 private ones,” he said.
‘Abide by rules’
The Chief Minister said he was perturbed over reports of people being fined for violating the health safety measures and warned them to abide by the precautionary health guidelines not only to ensure their own safety but of the entire State.
The Chief Minister added that migrant labourers that had left are now returning to Punjab as they envision job potential in the State.
