For generating resources to deal with the COVID-19 medical emergency on priority, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Saturday ordered expenditure cuts by all government departments to meet urgent expenses needed to deal with the current crisis.

He has asked all the state departments to submit detailed proposals, by 8 April, on expenditure cuts to be made over the next few weeks.

“We have to save people, that should be our priority,” said the CM at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, adding that resources have to be made available to Health, Police and other concerned departments directly involved in the current battle, which threatens to be a long one.

With no additional revenues coming in, the only way out was to cut expenditure, he stressed, adding that every department would need to make cuts in order to generate revenue for the critical care services.

Earlier, finance minister Manpreet Badal told the Council that the state would suffer Rs 5000 Crore in revenue losses in April, and the figure was expected to go up further in the absence of revenue from GST and petroleum taxes.

Meanwhile, the CM has warned of strict action, including impounding of passports, of those who fail to declare their travel history. He said there could be no compromise on this count and anyone found hiding their travel history from police or health department personnel would be dealt with strictly. “We will take away their passports too,” the CM warned.

To further strengthen the state government’s battle against the unprecedented crisis triggered by the global pandemic, Amarinder also authorized an extension for all retiring Health Department employees by three months.

This was decided as the death toll due to COVID-19 went up to five, with 57 positive cases being reported in Punjab.

The Punjab government has also announced special health insurance cover of Rs 50 lakhs each for the police personnel and sanitation workers in the frontline of the battle against COVID-19, on the lines of that announced for health workers by the Centre.

Taking serious note of shutdown of operations by several private hospitals, the Cabinet decided on strict action against such hospitals, with the CM suggesting that the health department should cancel the licences of hospitals refusing to treat COVID-19 patients.  Terming it a cowardly act, Amarinder said they cannot go into hiding at such a critical time.