Covid-19 hinterland digest: Punjab cops unite; Haryana govt jobs vanish

Covid-19 has claimed over 900 lives across India. While some states are severely hit, with new hotspots emerging on a daily basis, others are healing. As far as the lockdown is concerned, which ends on May 3, many states are not very enthusiastic about lifting it as the cases are not coming down.

Business Standard takes a look at regional editions of Hindi newspapers to provide you with a picture of the Covid-19 situation in the hinterland.

In solidarity with Inspector Harjeet

Punjab Police DGP, along with 80,000 other ranks, wore a badge that read #MaiBhiHarjeet (I am Harjeet) to honour Inspector Harjeet, Dainik Bhaskar reported. Harjeet was on duty in Patiala on April 12, when some Nihangs broke the barricade put in place to enforce the lockdown. When Harjeet attempted to stop them, one of them pulled out a sword and chopped his wrist. However, Harjeet's wrist was reattached after tedious surgery. There was some movement in his fingers and the doctors were happy with his recovery. Harjeet said that he never expected such a response from his colleagues and he was overwhelmed with joy. He said that he never saw anyone getting such an honour and thanked everyone for doing it. 

Architech goes live on FB to defy lockdown

Some eateries in Raipur commenced operations on Sunday. An architect drove is BMW to one of the eateries and broadcast his entire shenanigan on Facebook live, reports Dainik Bhaskar. He said during his live video that he has come out of the lockdown and it was a challenging task. Raipur police immediately swung into action. Police tracked him down and reached his house to arrest him. The police went a step ahead and asked him to make another video of his arrest and post it on Facebook. He complied. The police also took the car and the iPhone in possession. The police said that the collector had already issued a notice saying that people posting such videos will be taken into custody. People have started deleting similar posts. 

No govt jobs on offer for one year in Haryana

In the wake of coronavirus and rising expenses, the Haryana government will not offer any jobs in state departments for the next year, reports Dainik Bhaskar. Also, the job offers where the process is stuck at any level will also be stopped. On the lines of the central government, the Haryana government will put a stop in dearness allowance and make some amends to other allowances to the state employees. Haryana has very few sources of income, most of which are stopped. 

183,000 cardholders to get free ration

All registered labourers will get free ration from the government, Dainik Jagran reported. The ration distribution will take place in two phases — first will be the distribution of monthly ration and second will be the distribution of 5kg rice per unit under the PM Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna. The food grain department has given the orders to allocate the ration for the month of May. The ration will be distributed to over 183,000 cardholders from May 2-13.

Ruckus at Agra quarantine centre

A video of mismanagement at a quarantine centre ion Agra went viral. In the video, packets of biscuits were being thrown at the people. After analysing the video, the Block Development Officer was terminated, Dainik Jagran reported. Following this, several quarantine centres went berserk. A lot of damage to the property was inflicted. People destroyed water facilities at other centres, which is now causing water shortage. Authorities have started taking action.