Page 31 - Punjab

No central team to be allowed to survey land for canal in Punjab: FM Cheema

No central team will be allowed to survey land for the SYL canal in Punjab, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Saturday. Cheema, who met reporters after a Cabinet meeting, was asked if the Punjab government had received any intimation about a likely central team visit to conduct a survey. "We have not received any information in this regard yet," the AAP leader said and added that if any central team arrives in the state, the Punjab government will strongly oppose the visit and not allow a survey. Cheema's response follows Shiromani Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra claiming on Friday that central survey teams would arrive in Punjab on November 1. "We have learnt that central survey teams are expected to come to Punjab on November 1," Chandumajra had said. The Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal was conceptualised for effective allocation of water from the Ravi and the Beas rivers. The project envisages a 214-kilometre canal, of which a 122-kilometre stretch is to be ..

Assembly session on Oct 20-21: Punjab Guv says bound to be illegal

Days after the Bhagwant Mann government called a two-day sitting of the Punjab Assembly, the Governor's Secretariat said that this session -- being projected as an extension of the Budget session -- is "bound to be illegal" and any business conducted during it "unlawful". This is the second time this year that a row between the AAP government and the Raj Nivas has erupted over the summoning of an Assembly sitting. The Raj Nivas reminded the Assembly secretary on Thursday that the governor had a few months ago termed a similar special sitting in June of the budget session as "patently illegal". Punjab officials had earlier said the October 20-21 session would be an extension of the fourth session -- the budget session in March. The session is widely expected to discuss the recent Supreme Court directive over the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal in Punjab, a project which the state is reluctant to complete, claiming that it has no water to spare for neighbouring Haryana.

Freebies: A zero-sum game

The urge to retain hand-outs that perpetuate power equations has left governments with less to spend on the things that really matter to people

The burning problem: Water woes at the centre of Punjab's smoke screen

The first of a two-part series looks at the reasons compelling farmers across Punjab to burn stubble

Latest LIVE: Air India cancels all flights to and from Tel Aviv till Oct 14

Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

Stubble burning: Punjab records 32 farm fires on Saturday, lowest in Oct

Punjab on Saturday recorded 32 farm fires, the lowest this month, even as the total paddy straw burning cases crossed 870, according to latest data. Punjab had recorded 71 and 62 farm fires on the same day in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Of the 32 stubble burning incidents, Amritsar reported 18 followed by four each in Tarn Taran and Kapurthala. Punjab recorded 123 cases of stubble burning on October 1, followed by 119 on October 2, 105 on October 3, 95 on October 4, 98 on October 5 and 91 on October 6, according to data from the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre. The total cases of farm fires in the state from September 15 to October 7 have risen to 877. Punjab recorded 692 farm fires during the corresponding year-ago period, the data showed. Of the 877 farm fires, Amritsar contrubuted the majority with 537 cases, followed by 120 in Tarn Taran, 51 in Patiala, 50 in Kapurthala, 22 in Mohali and 18 in Sangrur, it showed. Paddy harvesting is underway in many areas of Punj

AAP holds protests across Punjab against Sanjay Singh's arrest by ED

The AAP held protests across Punjab on Friday against the arrest of its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in connection with alleged irregularities in implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. Ministers in the Punjab government, AAP MLAs and leaders from the state and the district level took part in the protests, the party said in a statement. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday took into custody Singh -- the second high-profile AAP leader arrested after Manish Sisodia -- in the case related to alleged irregularities in implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy. The AAP termed Singh's arrest as a "dictatorial step" of the Narendra Modi government, the statement said. In Jalandhar's Nakodar, AAP MP Shushil Kumar Rinku, Punjab Minister Balkar Singh, MLA Raman Arora, and other leaders held protests with a large number of party workers. Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak led the protest in Pathankot where AAP workers set fire to an effigy of Modi, the statement ...

Not even single drop of additional water to be shared with any state: Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said not even a single drop of additional water will be shared with any other state at any cost. He further informed that the state cabinet has approved the name of Gurminder Singh for the advocate general's (AG) post. Mann said this after chairing an emergency meeting of the cabinet at his residence here. Though no official agenda of the meeting was released, the council of ministers discussed the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal issue. Mann said the name of Gurminder Singh was approved for the AG's post at the cabinet meeting. "Also, the SYL issue was discussed at the meeting ... not even a single drop of additional water will be shared with any other state at any cost ... convening the monsoon session (of the state Assembly) soon was also discussed ... approval to several pro-people decisions was given," the chief minister wrote on X. The meeting came a day after the Supreme Court asked the Centre to survey the portion of land in P

Punjab has received over Rs 50,000 crore investments in 18 months: CM Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann Sunday said the state has received investments of more than Rs 50,000 crore in the past one-and-a-half years because of the concerted efforts of his government. Mann also said Punjab has complete communal harmony coupled with congenial atmosphere for industrial growth, which is giving impetus to its overall development and prosperity. The chief minister was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of a Rs 138-crore cattle feed plant here which is to be set up by a Netherlands-based company, said an official statement. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana cultivating traditional crops are looking for ways to diversify their crops, or shift to horticulture, dairy, poultry, fishery, piggery and others for better earnings, said Mann. He said De Heus, an animal feed company, will set up the plant, adding that this is the first major investment by a Dutch company in Punjab. The Netherlands is known to be the second largest exporter of .

INDIA stands like a tall mountain: Navjot Sidhu amid Congress-AAP tension

A Punjab court on Saturday sent Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira to 14-day judicial custody in connection with a 2015 drugs case

Gurdaspur district launches novel initiative to curb stubble burning

Stop stubble burning and get special treatment at government offices. The Gurdaspur district administration has come up with this novel idea to curb crop residue burning, one of the major reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution in the national capital region in October and November. Farmers who abstain from stubble burning will be recognised as environment protectors ('vatavaran de rakhe') and given appreciation certificates. By showing it, they can avoid queues at government offices. Not just farmers, villages which report zero stubble burning in the harvesting season will also get the 'vatavaran de rakhe' certificates and will be prioritised for any development project. The window for sowing wheat, a Rabi crop, is very short after paddy harvest. Hence, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue and prepare the sowing of the next crop. With about 31 lakh hectares of paddy sowing area, Punjab produces around 180 lakh to 200 lakh tonnes of paddy st

Truce for Punjab's non-war

India must press on with its response to international questioning and criticism by Canada and allies

Centre allots Rs 600 crore to state govts for paddy straw management

Of this, around Rs 105 crore has already been released to Punjab, which records the highest incidents of stubble burning, while Rs 90 crore has been allocated for Haryana

Delhi jewellery burglary: 2 held in Punjab, 18.5 kg ornaments recovered

The Chhattisgarh Police has arrested two people in connection with a Rs 20-crore burglary from a jewellery store in New Delhi earlier this week and recovered around 18.5 kg of gold and diamond ornaments from them, a senior official said on Friday. A joint team of officials from the anti-crime and cyber unit and the Civil Line police station in Bilaspur district carried out the operation while probing a series of thefts in Bilaspur city, Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI. Those arrested have been identified as Lokesh Srivas (32), who is allegedly involved in several thefts in Bilaspur, and Shiva Chandravanshi (23), he said. The value of gold and diamond ornaments recovered from Srivas is estimated at Rs 12 crore but the exact value was yet to be ascertained, he added. Acting on a tip-off about Srivas being present in Kawardha town of Chhattisgarh's Kabirdham district, the team conducted a raid there on Wednesday and arrested Chandravanshi along with ornaments worth Rs

Fully committed to INDIA bloc: Kejriwal after Congress MLA arrest in Punjab

The Punjab Congress has been severly critical of the Bhagwant Mann government over the arrest of Khaira alleging political vendetta by the state govt

Political vendetta, alleges Congress Punjab chief on Khaira's arrest

Ahead of protes by the Congress in Bhatinda, Warring said that a delegation of Punjab Congress had gone to meet Khaira but they were informed that Khaira was being moved to Fazlika jail

Punjab farmers continue three-day 'rail roko' agitation over MSP demand

Due to the protest, several trains on the Ambala-Shri Ganganagar route were cancelled on Thursday

Punjab Cong MLA Khaira taken into police custody in 2015 drugs case

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was taken into custody by the Punjab Police in connection with a 2015 drugs case on Thursday morning, family members of the legislator claimed. However, there was no official word on Khaira being taken into police custody. A family member of the Congress MLA went live on Facebook showing that a team of Punjab Police has reached their residence to apprehend Khaira. In the video, Khaira could be seen arguing with the police team and asking them to show him the arrest warrant. The Bholath legislator could also be seen asking for the identity of the police officers who were part of the raiding team. When Khaira asked the team where he was being taken, a police official told him that he was being taken to Jalalabad in Fazilka. Slamming the Bhagwant Mann government, the Congress MLA claimed that he was being apprehended in a fake case and that "jungle raj" was prevailing in the state. The drugs case was registered in March 2015 at Jalalabad in Fazilka.

Crop burning emissions rose 75% from 2011-2020, finds IISER study

The study pinpointed Punjab as the highest emitter, with 27 per cent of its cultivated area burned in 2020, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh during the same period

Govt seeks partnerships to modernise Mohali's semiconductor lab

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology aims for public-private collaboration to boost local semiconductor manufacturing capabilities