‘Centre should let the CMs do what they know best’: Capt Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh wants the Centre to stop breathing down the necks of Chief Ministers and let the state governments do their job because they know what’s best for their states. While pointing out that the Centre has not helped the states to even pay the rail fare for the migrant labourers and that he had to somehow raise Rs 35 crore during this moment of crisis, he wants PM Narendra Modi to ask the CMs what they require to fight Covid-19. Excerpts from an interview with The Tribune:

How will 9-10 lakh migrant labourers leaving Punjab affect the restarting of the state’s economy?

We had estimated that there were roughly 13 lakh migrant labourers. Let them go home and we are arranging for them to go home. I had told the Punjab industry that this was going to happen. I told them to take care of their workers and many did so. The feeling of uncertainty that has set in probably made some of them go home.

Getting nothing from Centre to fight covid

We are losing a lot of money. Last month we expected Rs3,300 cr from our resources but got only Rs400 cr. I think Mr Modi should have said, ‘CMs, you handle your states and tell me what I can do for you.’ We are not getting anything from Centre, not even to fight Covid-19

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Most of them have not been paid their 40 days’ wages. Do you think they will return?

Small units are shut. Someone with four or five workers is not going to pay his workers. Larger industries did take care of their workers. I can mention Trident and the Oswals; their workers are all paid.

Sonia Gandhi has offered to pay the rail fare for migrant labourers all across the country. Has Punjab thought about using its own buses to send them home?

We are employing trains. The first train left on Tuesday morning for Jharkhand. We are paying for all the 9 lakh who want to go. They worked for Punjab for many years. This is the least we can do. When they do not have money to feed themselves, how can we ask them to buy their tickets? I think Mrs Gandhi was right in this and we have sanctioned Rs 35 crore for all their trains and tickets.

The Centre and states had over a month to plan the migrants’ safe return, yet it seems there is no protocol in place across the country.

You are very right. Like, for instance, people have been calling from Nanded (Maharashtra) saying that they were stuck. We did our best with our own resources. We sent buses. This train should have started earlier. When we can bring people from all over the world by air, I don’t see any reason why you cannot send them from Punjab to Bihar or Jharkhand or UP. We could have sent them earlier.

Over 29,000 people died in Italy, but Milan’s railway stations were opened on Monday for commuters. Do you think our lockdown has been long and painful?

No, not at all. We needed to try and beat the Covid transmission. And I think we succeeded, Kerala was the first and we were the second to implement the lockdown. We brought in the curfew on the second day because some people were not taking it seriously.

I thought people would be fed up. It has been more than 40 days and we have given them some relief. But on social media, a lot of people are saying that you should not have lifted the lockdown. They are all worried about their families. They are following rules. About 11,000 people were challaned for violating curfew restrictions. Those are the youngsters who are fed up and wanted to jump out of the window.

I have requests from 9,800 people from other states who want to come back. I have a list of people from 88 countries. I think the Centre is flying these people in. They are our people. Even if they come after tests, we will do the tests here and we will make sure they stay in quarantine whether they are positive or not.

The concern for the industry is that even if one person tests positive, the entire establishment has to be closed down. Even the employer has to face penal action.

No, that is not correct. Somehow or the other this rumour spread. Then we got a clarification from the Centre. It has come and is being sent to all DCs. For instance, if I am sitting in my home and I get some workmen over and if a workman gets Covid, how am I at fault? This is ridiculous. The Centre has clarified that a wrong message had gone out. And I have informed the industry.

It is all very well to have a map and put red pins and orange pins and green pins and say everything is fine but this is not the way it works. People who are heading the governments in the states, Mr Khattar in Haryana or Mr Thakur in Himachal Pradesh, they know better about what is happening in their states. I know what is happening in Punjab. But I am being told what to do. In Patiala, my district, they put a red pin and said it is all contaminated. Now Patiala and Rajpura have got Covid, but Nabha doesn’t, Samana doesn’t, Shutrana doesn’t. One is 14 km, another 24 km and third is 30 km away, why are they putting them all in the red category? Because they don’t know, because some joint secretary is sitting there and putting entire Patiala in the red zone. Leave it to us to decide how it should be done.

Maharashtra is freezing all developmental expenditure and hiring for a year. How is Punjab going to tackle the loss of revenue?

We are losing a lot of money. As of last month, we expected Rs3,300 crore from our own resources but got only Rs400 crore. There is no GST, no money coming in from Centre, nothing from our own resources because our industry is not working. We are losing Rs30 crore a day on revenue from electricity because we are not consuming it. We are not getting anything from the Centre, not even to fight this menace.

Farmers are complaining they are not getting paid for their produce.

We just crossed 100 lakh tonnes on Tuesday and we have paid Rs10,415 crore. We pay every 48 hours, which is our promise and we are maintaining that. There is no shortage of money for procurement.