No money received from Centre to fight Covid: Punjab CM

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday hit back at Union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, rejecting her charges of central

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday hit back at Union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, rejecting her charges of central relief not being provided to the people of the state in the wake of Covid-19.

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“Your information is absolutely incorrect. The state has received no money from the Centre to fight the coronavirus,” said Amarinder, in response to Harsimrat’s series of tweets in which she claimed that Punjab received funds and grains to deal with the crisis.

Asking her to cross-check her facts before shooting out of her mouth, the CM said instead of using her office as a central minister to help out her own state, Harsimrat was shamelessly indulging in petty politics based on blatant falsehoods.

“You should be ashamed of spreading such false propaganda on such a major issue,” said Amarinder to the Akali leader.

The CM pointed out that the Rs 2,366 crore referred to by her on the GST account was Punjab’s money. Moreover, Rs 4,400 crore of the state’s money was still pending with the Centre, he added. “You couldn’t even get our own pending arrears released,” he quipped.

On the 10,000 tonnes of grain claimed by Harsimrat, he said the state received only 42 tonnes of pulses so far, which was a joke given the state’s requirement.