• News
  • India News
  • 15 from Punjab who attended Nizamuddin Markaz not traced yet, says Punjab CM Amrinder Singh
This story is from April 10, 2020

15 from Punjab who attended Nizamuddin Markaz not traced yet, says Punjab CM Amrinder Singh

15 from Punjab who attended Nizamuddin Markaz not traced yet, says Punjab CM Amrinder Singh
NEW DELHI: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said on Friday most of the 27 cases of coronavirus reported in Punjab the previous day were cases of “secondary transmission,” an indication, he said, of the state moving into the community transmission stage.
Quoting a study by the Department of Community Medicine in PGIMER, Chandigarh, Singh also said the virus was likely to peak by mid-September by which time about 58% of India’s population, and 87% of Punjab’s population, would have been affected.
“In Punjab, 27 cases are there with no travel history. Yes, it can be said that most of them are cases of secondary transmission,” the Punjab CM said, while addressing an AICC press briefing through video conference. The CM also said 15 persons from the Tablighi Jamaat who attended the Nizamuddin markaz have not been traced so far.
Asserting that Punjab was preparing itself for every eventuality, Singh said his government has planned a four-phased arrangement for 2000 patients in the first instance, 10,000 in the second, 30,000 patients in phase three and a full scale situation where one lakh patients would need isolation and treatment.
He described global projections as frightening and horrendous, but said Punjab has enough ventilators, masks and PPEs at present and that fresh batches are expected soon, and the state will also be able to cater to others, either directly or through the Government of India.
The Punjab CM, however, said that India needed, urgently, to ramp up it’s testing facilities since an extended lockdown would be difficult to do for the entire country. He also referred to as “woefully inadequate” the Union government’s Rs 15000 crore package announced for the nation’s health infrastructure “How can this be enough for the nearly 1.4 billion people of India? No state has the resources needed to fight the battle without the help of the Central Government and they have to come forward to help the states,” he said, adding that this will be one of the issues he takes up with PM Modi during his second round of interaction with CMs on Saturday.
Singh also said Punjab would allow farmers to begin wheat and paddy harvest from April 15, but accused the Centre of not lifting existing stocks per the FCI quota, leading to a paucity of storage in Punjab.
“While Punjab is picking up stocks for the Food Corporation of India, and in turn, the Govt of India, any wastage of crops that happens eventually is blamed on Punjab. Though we have created temporary arrangements for storage, we have asked the Centre to clear godowns so that adequate storage facilities may be created,” Singh said, adding that the government should consider distributing six months of food supplies to the poor to tackle the storage issues.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA