‘It will turn into a superspreader’: Punjab CM urges BKU to call off dharna in Patiala amid Covid surge

Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has urged Bhartiya Kisan Union to not act irresponsibly after the farmers outfit of the state, Ekta Ugrahan, has announced a three-day dharna in Patiala, the CM’s home town. 

The CM said that the dharna will jeopardise the lives of their own people if such reckless behaviour is shown amid the pandemic and the event could turn into a super spreader. 

Amarinder said his government had fought hard to prevent Punjab going the way of some other states, such as Delhi, Maharashtra and even Uttar Pradesh (where bodies floating in the Ganga river had exposed the total pandemic mismanagement by the BJP-ruled states.) 

Such events had the potential to negate the gains made by his government in tackling Covid in the state, he said.

He urged the farmers’ group to not gather especially when the government has banned these events

Such a dharna would draw people mainly from the villages, which were in any case going through a crisis during the second wave of the pandemic, he pointed out.

The group’s action was also completely unwarranted considering the total support the state government had extended all these months to the agitating farmers on the issue of the Centre’s black Farm Laws, said Amarinder. His government was the first to pass the amendment laws in the state Assembly to contravene the Farm Laws, he pointed out. “It is time for the farmers to reciprocate by supporting the state government in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.

Pointing out that even during the peak of the second Covid surge in Punjab, things had not gone out of control here as they had in several other states, he said the state had been one of the best performing so far in terms of pandemic management. 

There were no widespread shortages of Oxygen in hospitals despite shortfall in supply, as the state government had ensured judicious management of the critical commodity, he noted, adding that even availability of medications and beds had been continuously ramped up to keep pace with the spiralling cases. This, he pointed out, was in sharp contrast to states like Delhi, Maharashtra and UP.