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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 9
Punjab buses heading to Nanded in Maharashtra to bring pilgrims back had also transported Punjabis trapped in various parts of the state en route to Takht Hazur Sahib against their original schedule, sparking controversy.
These people, along with the pilgrims, traveled back to Punjab.
In a video circulating on social media, Akali leader Prem Singh Chandumajra says he had spoken with NCP chief Sharad Pawar to facilitate the Punjabis movement to the sanctuary on these buses that were going there anyway.
Chandumajra is heard to say that the drivers picked up the Punjabi from different places on the way to the sanctuary. Originally, buses were supposed to arrive directly at the sanctuary with no intermediate stops.
Challenging Shiromani Akali Dal to clarify the Chandumajra statement, Punjab Cooperatives Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said the pilgrims were blamed for their guilt. Who made the non-pilgrims join the pilgrims before proceeding to Punjab? The Akalis have some explanations to do, “he said.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has blamed the Maharashtra administration for the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the state due to pilgrims returning from Nanded.
Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that although the state government is testing everyone returning from the sanctuary for a coronavirus, it was the duty of the Maharashtra government to strictly implement central government guidelines to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
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