Chandigarh Aug 31 PTI Haryana on Tuesday reported two deaths due to COVID-19 taking the cumulative toll to 9677 and 20 fresh infections pushing the total case count to 770486 According to the Health Departments daily bulletin the latest deaths were reported from Karnal and Yamunanagar districts Among the new cases four were from reported Gurgaon and three from Karnal district The total active cases in the state were 290 The total recoveries so far were 760175 The recovery rate was 9866 percent the bulletin said PTI SUN VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Aug 31 PTI After accusing the Congress government in Punjab of fuelling farmers unrest in his state Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar listed several steps taken by the BJP ruled state for farmers and asked what Amarinder Singhs government has done done in comparisonWho is anti-farmer captamarinder ji Punjab or Haryana asked Khattar after highlighting in eight of his tweets various steps taken by his dispensation for farmers welfareDear captamarinder ji Haryana procures 10 crops at MSPpaddy wheat mustard bajra gram moong maize ground nut sun flower cotton and makes the MSP payment directly into the account of the farmer How many crops does Punjab buy from the farmer at MSP Khattarasked his Punjab counterpart in one of his tweets He also said that Haryana has been paying the highest MSP in the country for sugarcane to its farmers for the last seven yearsWhy has Punjab felt the need to match Haryana only after an agitation by farmers he asked referring to Singh approving a Rs 15 per quintal hike in the State Agreed Price SAP of all sugarcane varieties for the 2021-22 crushing season a week agoKhattar on Monday had accused the Congress government in Punjab of fuelling farmers unrest in his state prompting a sharp response from Singh The exchange had taken place two days after farmers protesting over agri laws enacted by the Centre clashed with the Haryana Police in KarnalSingh had hit back a little later accusing the BJP including the Haryana CM of taking refuge in shameful lies over the horrendous attacks on protesting farmersRepeal the farm laws instead of blaming Punjab for the mess your party has put the farming sector in Singh had said in a statementHours later Khattar in series of tweets while mentioning the welfare steps taken by his government for farmers also said that Haryana provides an incentive of Rs 7000 per acre to every farmer who wants to move away from paddy cultivationWhat is the incentive that Punjab provides to the farmer similarly he askedKhattar also said that Haryana pays interest at 12 per cent to the farmer in case payment is delayed beyond 72 hours from the approval and asked if Punjab pays interest on delayed payment Haryana pays an incentive of Rs 5000 per acre to the farmer who adopts direct seeding of rice technology said Khattar while asking Singh what incentive does Punjab giveHe also mentioned thatHaryana pays every farmer Rs 1000 per acre for stubble management and provides linkages for sale of paddy straw and sought to know from Singh what incentive does Punjab provide to farmersHe also said that Haryana has started micro-irrigation scheme to support farmers with 85 percent subsidy to manage precious water for irrigationWhat incentive does Punjab provide and is it even concerned about the rapidly depleting water table that it will finish the farmer he askedKhattar said that Haryana supports farmers growing horticultural produce by instituting the Bhawantar Bharpayee Yojana to insulate the farmer from price variations below costWhat incentive does Punjab provide to its horticulture farmers asked Khattar PTI SUN VSD DV

Chandigarh Aug 30 PTI Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday sought the extension of the states special assembly session saying a day-long session cant solve peoples problems A day-long special assembly session has been summoned on September 3 for the commemoration of the 400th Parkash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur Amid the ongoing power tussle between the camps of Chief Minister Amarinder and Congress state unit chief Sidhu the cricketer-turned-politician on Monday took to Twitter demanding the governments directions to the power regulator to revise tariff to provide relief to consumers Sidhu who has been at loggerheads with the chief minister has been pressing for the state governments action on an 18-point programme of the Congress high command for the state The programme included action in the 2015 case involving the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Faridkot and subsequent police firing on the people protesting the sacrilege the arrest of big fish behind drug rackets and scrapping of power purchase agreements with various private firms The Punjab Govt must immediately issue directions to PSERC in Public Interest to revise tariff being paid to Private Power Plants making the faulty PPAs null void Further calling a 5-7 day Vidhan Sabha Session to bring a New Legislation for termination of faulty PPAs Sidhu said in a tweet This will help Punjab Govt give 300 units of free power to all domestic consumers including those of general category decrease the domestic tariff to Rs 3 per Unit Rs 5 per Unit for Industry along with redressal of all outstanding bills waiving-off the unjustifiable exorbitant bills he said in another tweet The Amritsar East legislator also uploaded his short video in which he was demanding that the faulty PPAs be scrapped on a priority basis In the public interest the Punjab government should give directions to PSERC Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission and issue a tariff order under which electricity be purchased at a fair and just price and PPAs signed at exorbitant prices be declared null and void said Sidhu It will lead to a benefit of Rs 50000 crore to the state and consumers will pay Rs 15 to 2 per unit less for power he said While praising the state government for convening the special session to commemorate 400th Parkash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sidhu however said Several issues related to improving the lives of people of Punjab will not be solved in a one-day session He said the session should be at least for five to seven days Sidhu said a law on scrapping the faulty PPAs be brought in the session He said the way a law was enacted to terminate the water-sharing agreements a Punjab Termination of PPAs Act to scrap faulty power purchase pacts should be enacted He also wanted the government to come out with a mechanism to waive unjustifiable arrears PTI CHS VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Aug 30 PTI Punjab on Monday recorded 27 fresh coronavirus cases that took its infection tally to 600576 while four more fatalities pushed the death toll to 16373 according to a medical bulletinOf the fresh cases six were reported from Mohali and four each from Gurdaspur and Jalandhar the bulletin statedThe latest deaths were reported from Ferozepur Gurdaspur Hoshiarpur and Mohali districts it saidThere are 359 active COVID-19 cases in Punjab the bulletin saidWith 54 more recoveries the total number of cured persons has reached 583844 it saidChandigarhs COVID-19 caseload increased to 65099 as six more people tested positive for the disease the bulletin saidThe union territory did not report any fresh deaths The death toll stands at 813There are 40 active COVID-19 cases in Chandigarh while 64246 people have recovered from the disease the bulletin stated PTI CHS VSD DIV DIV

Chandigarh Aug 30 PTI The current happenings in Afghanistan have raised new security questions Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Monday asserting the Central government is alert and capable of dealing with any situationHe also said no anti-national force should be allowed to encourage terrorism from across the border by taking advantage of the developments in AfghanistanHe was addressing the third Balramji Dass Tandon memorial lecture organised by Panjab University on the issue of national securityWhat is happening in neighbouring Afghanistan is raising new questions in terms of security and our government is keeping a watch on the developments there said Singh in his address delivered through video conferencingAlong with the security of Indians Singh said Our government also wants that anti-national forces do not encourage terrorism from across the border by taking advantage of the development there We have some more concerns which can become challenges from the point of view of national security he addedSingh said the Modi-led government at the Centre is alert and capable of dealing with any situationThe Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15 capturing all major cities in a matter of days two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a vexatious two-decade war PTI CHS VSD TIR TIR

Chandigarh Aug 25 PTI The Haryana government has decided to reopen primary schools for Classes 4 and 5 from September 1 Education Minister Kanwar Pal said on Wednesday Students will be allowed to come to the school with prior written permission of their parents he said in an official statement Over a month ago schools in Haryana were reopened for Classes 9 to 12 Later students of Classes 6 to 8 were allowed to attend school However it has not made it mandatory for students to come to school as online classes are also continuing As per the guidelines issued last month only one student is allowed to sit on a desk and sharing of food or stationery items is prohibited A gap of at least six feet has to be maintained between two students and desks will bear name tags of students where they have to sit according to the guidelines Thermal scanning and hand sanitisation of students is to be done at the entrance of the school Masks are to be checked and provisions have to be made to provide one if a student is found not wearing a face cover PTI SUN RDK RDK

Chandigarh Aug 25 PTI Punjab on Wednesday reported one 37 fresh cases of coronavirus and one Covid-related death taking the number of infections and fatalities to 600378 and 16358 respectively according to a medical bulletin The latest death was reported from Sangrur The toll includes two deaths which were not reported earlier The number of active cases dropped to 401 from 423 on Tuesday the bulletin said Of the fresh cases Mohali reported seven followed by six each in Amritsar and Pathankot With 55 recoveries from the infection the number of cured persons reached 583619 as per the bulletin Chandigarh reported two cases of COVID-19 taking the total count to 65071 The toll figure stood at 812 in the union territory The number of active cases in the city was 36 while the number of cured persons was 64223 PTI CHS VSD MGA MGA

Chandigarh Aug 25 PTI Haryana on Wednesday reported one COVID-19 related death taking the cumulative toll to 9670 and 15 fresh infections pushed the total case count to 770395 According to the Health departments Daily bulletin the latest death was reported from the Gurgaon district Among the districts two cases each were from Yamunanagar Kaithal and Palwal districts The total active cases in the state were 660 The total recoveries so far were 760065 The recovery rate was 9866 per cent the bulletin said PTI SUN VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Aug 25 PTI Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged the External Affairs Ministry to ask the United Kingdom to return the personal effects including a pistol and diary of legendary martyr Shaheed Udham Singh Singh made the request in a letter to External Affairs Ministry S Jaishankar In his letter to Jaishankar the Punjab CM appealed to him to take up this matter with the British government so that the nation is able to express its highest gratitude to the great patriot while celebrating the 75th anniversary of Indias Independence You may be aware that it was with this very pistol that he avenged the dastardly act of the erstwhile British government at Jallianwala Bagh where hundreds of unarmed and innocent Indians were shot dead under the charge of the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab Michael ODwyer reads the letter It was with this pistol that Shaheed Udham Singh brought Michael O Dwyer to justice in the Caxton Hall London wrote the chief minister The letter further said It is also known that Shaheed Udham Singh used to keep a diary as his personal log which also deserves to be brought back to India so that the people of the country could derive motivation and inspiration from it PTI CHS VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Aug 23 PTI A proposal to buy 1443 new vehicles for police has been sent to the state government for approval the Haryana Assembly was told on Monday Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala said during the Question Hour that the Haryana Police Department has 5095 vehicles available for performing duty Of these 2666 are light category 380 medium category 210 heavy category vehicles and 1839 two-wheelers he said Apart from this from the year 2019 to 2021 the state government has approved 32 new police stations and five police posts He said vehicles for carrying out police works in these newly set-up police stations and police posts have been arranged from the already available vehicles with the Police Department The minister said the Police Department needs some more new vehicles for smooth functioning PTI SUN RDK RDK