Punjab on Tuesday reported six fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 251, according to an official statement.
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The State Health department said five new patients were from Patiala while one was from SAS Nagar district. Till April 20, Punjab has seen 16 coronavirus deaths. As many as 51 patients have been cured, it added.
In Haryana, four fresh cases surfaced on Monday, taking the total tally to 255, according to a Health department statement.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has suggested to the Centre a three-pronged strategy to bail out the States from the COVID-19 crisis, including a three-month special financial package, and extension to the 15th Finance Commission till October 2021 for submission of its final report.
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Fall in revenue
Citing the collapse in revenues due to the lockdown of business and industry, as well as the increased essential health and relief expenditure, the Chief Minister, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged him to ask the Fifteenth Finance Commission to review its interim report for 2020-21 in the context of the much lower revenue share for the States compared with what was expected from the earlier projections which assumed 7% growth of GDP.
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Noting that a zero growth scenario in GDP for India was not unlikely, he said some analysts were projecting even negative growth. Given the likelihood of very low growth, which was expected to cause the revenue shortfall to last for the whole year, Captain Singh requested the Prime Minister to direct the Fifteenth Finance Commission to defer the submission of its full report to October, 2021, when they will be able to make a realistic assessment of the likely growth of the economy over the next five years.
