CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government is now in a fix as 10,861 Punjabis living in 86 countries and states across the country want to return back to their native state due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the requests have been received by the state government till date are from Australia, UAE, USA, United Kingdom, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
A few days back the state government had launched a portal for those who want to return back to the state so that they can get themselves registered.
As of now 10,861 such requests have come of these 2122 are from abroad and 8739 are from different states in the country.
As of yesterday, when the list came to the senior officers, they were stunned to see the requests of those who want to return back. Most of them are from those places which are the worst affected due to COVID-19 and thus as of now the state government has gone mum.
Of the 2122 requests from foreign countries received by the state government, 480 are from UAE, 408 from Australia, 116 from USA, 105 from Malaysia, 89 from Ukraine, 88 from United Kingdom, 68 from Singapore, 62 from Qatar, 53 from Kuwait, 48 from New Zealand, besides Canada and other countries.
While of the 8739 requests received from different states maximum are from Uttar Pradesh 1838, followed by Bihar 911, Maharashtra 899, Delhi 786, Haryana 710, Rajasthan 534, Gujrat 431, Himachal Pradesh 430, Karnataka 348, Chandigarh 253 and 204 from Madhya Pradesh.
It is learned that these people are either living in these places or had gone there for some work and now got stuck due to the lockdown.
Sources said that the state government is in a catch-22 situation to get the Punjabis back who are living in other states and countries. Earlier, it got back the 4,000-odd pilgrims who were stranded in Nanded in Maharashtra and due to that, the graph of the pandemic has risen in the State as many of them have tested positive.
Thus after taking credit, now blame game has started between all the political parties be it Congress, Shiromani, Akali dal and AAP.
"The state government has registered their request but till now no final decision has been taken," said a senior official.
The state government has already stated that a 21-day quarantine was mandatory for all those returning to the state from other places. This was decided after pilgrims who had recently returned from Hazur Sahib in Nanded started testing positive for Covid-19.