"Waiting For Centre Permission To Set Up Oxygen Plants": Amarinder Singh | Read

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today urged people to follow the government-mandated Covid protocols - such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing - while insisting that "our objective is not to harass people with restrictions but to protect them". The 79-year-old Congress leader also sounded an alarm over coronavirus mutations as he said "younger people are getting affected" amid the fresh Covid surge. He yet again repeated his appeal to the centre to widen the vaccine coverage and slammed political leaders for leading election campaign rallies and setting a wrong example. Distressing reports have come to fore from across the country on shortage of medical oxygen for Covid patients. Punjab has not yet faced such an issue, the Chief Minister said but he added, "Four of my locations have been approved by the central government for setting up oxygen plants. But the final go-ahead is awaited. Just yesterday, I wrote to Union Minister Piyush Goyal about this. This is a problem."