Punjab Chief Minister to go by recommendation of 20-member committee on lifting Lockdown

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said his government would go by the advice of an expert committee set up to formulate lockdown exit strategy in the state. This statement comes after a videoconference meeting with industrialists, economic experts, diplomats and ambassadors.  The Chief Minister said any decision would be taken on the basis of the recommendations by the 20-member committee, which is expected to submit its report on Saturday.

Reiterating that his priority was saving the lives of people, the Chief Minister said that the life of Punjabis is more important and added that the factories can be restarted but we can't get people back. Furthermore, he stated that if the expert committee, which includes medical professionals and doctors, recommends partially or total end of the lockdown.  they will do so.

Additionally, he made it clear that the health of the people was his priority, even though the state was aware that the lockdown could not be kept in place indefinitely

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Punjab seeks Rs 3,000 Cr interim compensation

Earlier, the Punjab government has also sought from the Centre an interim compensation of Rs 3,000 crore for the month of April in view of "alarming resource gap" and also demanded permission for sale of liquor to mobilise excise revenue.

Pointing to the alarming resource gap between the state's anticipated receipts and committed expenditure, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday demanded interim compensation to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore for the month of April on account of the COVID-19 national disaster, said a government statement.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the chief minister also asked for expediting the release of the state's GST arrears of Rs 4,400 crore for the last four months, to help overcome resource constraint.

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