Former PM Manmohan Singh To Guide Punjab's Post COVID-19 Economic Recovery

On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that former prime minister Manmohan Singh has accepted his request to provide guidance to the state in restoring it's the economy post the COVID-19 situation.

The state government has already constituted a group of experts, headed by noted economist and former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia to come out with a post-COVID-19 strategy to revive the state's economy.

"I had written to Dr Manmohan Singh Ji to guide us along with the group of experts headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia & I am grateful to him for accepting. We have been working hard to steer Punjab to the path of economic growth & post-COVID-19 we will again focus on same," the chief minister of Punjab tweeted.

The group of experts headed by Ahluwalia, had its introductory meeting through video conferencing on Monday and set up five sub-groups of finance, agriculture, health, industry and social aid, to further streamline its working, according to an official statement.

Ahluwalia commented that the task before the group was momentous, but "we will definitely come out with some solutions to steer the state's recovery".

The chief minister said the state's financial situation was grim with monthly revenue losses to the tune of Rs 3,360 crore which includes losses on account of GST (Rs 1,322 crore), state excise on liquor (Rs 521 crore), motor vehicle tax (Rs 198 crore), VAT on petrol and diesel (Rs 465 crore), electricity duty (Rs 243 crore), stamp duty (Rs 219 crore) and non-tax revenue (Rs 392 crore).