Chandigarh: Punjab Government on Tuesday announced a series of cost-cutting measures, including an immediate 25% reduction in existing entitlements for Petroleum product expenses of all government departments, except the frontline Departments of Health, Medical Education, Police, Food and Agriculture.
The reduction will remain in force till the Department of Finance resubmits its proposal to review the vehicle entitlements, vehicle models and Petrol/Diesel limits for the consideration of the Chief Minister. The decision was taken at a VC meeting of the Sub-Committee on Finance, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who stressed the need for an exit strategy, pointing out that the state could not be kept under lockdown indefinitely.
The report of the 20-member expert committee working on the strategy is expected this week. Amid serious concerns expressed by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal over the critical financial situation in the state in the light of all revenue receipts drying up, the meeting decided that tough decisions needed to be taken, as an interim measure, to help the state tide over these difficult times.
The meeting also decided that the norms and expenditure on the security of people not holding public office any longer/have never held public office would be reviewed by May 15 to decide on possible cuts on this count. It may be recalled that the security of several protected persons in the state, including the Chief Minister, has already been cut down to divert police personnel to the much-needed curfew enforcement and COVID relief duties.
Also read: Kejriwal govt to conduct COVID-19 test on media persons in Delhi
The issue of stubble burning was also discussed during the Video Conference, with the Chief Minister directing all ministers to ensure strict implementation of the state government’s directives on this count, in order to check such burning.
The Chief Minister also directed the Department of Revenue to prepare a comprehensive memorandum to Government of India for compensation of loss on account of COVID-19. It was decided that if it was not possible to assess the complete loss to the State immediately, an interim memorandum may be submitted to the central government, seeking compensation for loss of State's revenue and other requirements for relief and rehabilitation for the first quarter ending 30th June 2020. Thereafter, a complete final memorandum would be sent to GoI by end June 2020.
