Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases and 50% of the revenue decline for the first quarter of this fiscal in Punjab, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday sought a liberal financial package from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fill the collection gap caused by the pandemic, and also to have flexibility on coronavirus-related terms of expenditure in State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).
During a Video Conference meeting of the Prime Minister with various chief ministers to review the Covid-19 situation, Captain Amarinder said the current cap of 35% in the SDRF for Covid related expenditure, as per MHA guidelines, is not sufficient to meet the current requirements.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan also participated in the meeting.
The Chief Minister thanked the government for accepting Punjab’s proposal to set up a National Institute of Virology for the North Zone and said the state government will soon give 25 acres of land for the Institute for ICMR for the purpose.
Citing the rising number of Covid cases in Punjab, which have gone up to 24,891 with 604 deaths, the CM urged the PM to review the UGC decision on mandatory exams for exit classes to be held by 30 September.
“Punjab may not be in a position to conduct exams in September as it may be facing its peak at that time,” he said, adding that promoting these students on past performance and internal assessment, with the option to take exams later for those wanting to improve their performance.
Captain Amarinder also sought central government assistance for online school education, especially for poor children of Classes X and XII. “More money was needed for creating the infrastructure needed to support online education,” he said.