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Galwan Valley incident part of larger Chinese design, Amarinder tells CWC
Amarinder also cornered the Centre over its failure to support the state in its fight against Covid, pointing out that all that Punjab had received so far from the Centre was its own Rs 2,800 crore for January to March period, and just a few other grants
CHANDIGARH
Terming the Galwan Valley incident as part of a larger design on the part of China, chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that India should not make the mistake of dismissing the incident as a patrol clash, but should take a firm stand against any Chinese incursions into Indian territory.
He said the amount of build-up in Galwan Valley showed that the Chinese were working on a plan and India could not afford to lose even an inch of its land in the area. “We have all seen clashes in our times, with Pakistan and even with Chinese, and this is definitely not a patrol clash. We have to take a strong position, and we should be clear that if we lose even an inch of land, we must hold them responsible,” he said at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) video-conference convened by the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Amarinder also cornered the Centre over its failure to support the state in its fight against Covid, pointing out that all that Punjab had received so far from the Centre was its own Rs 2,800 crore for January to March period, and just a few other grants. He said that GST dues for April to June were still pending. Despite repeated pleas and memorandums, no help was forthcoming from the Centre to the state government for tackling the Covid crisis, he said, adding that the centre was not giving even the state’s own share.
The CM said his government was forced to manage on its own to create resources for fighting Covid. “I am sure other states are in the same unfortunate position. Nobody is listening to us,” he lamented. He said with 2.33 lakh of the total 2.52 lakh industries in Punjab were now open and migrants were also back to the state but the units were currently working at 40% capacity and would take some months to return to their full strength.
Speaking of the state’s economic revival plan, Amarinder said the Montek Ahulwalia committee set up to formulate the strategy was sharing its feedback with the government, which was accordingly charting the way forward. The committee has six working teams, of which the finance team had already submitted its report and the others were expected to come in soon.
