Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI Former Punjab minister and senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia was booked under the NDPS Act triggering allegations of political vendetta from his partyA case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act was registered against him on the basis of a 2018 status report of a probe into the drug racket in the stateThe report was filed by anti-drug special task force STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2018Majithia 46 is the brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal Majithia had earlier denied all charges against himMeanwhile it is learnt that the police are looking for Majithia to arrest him A special investigation team led by Deputy Inspector General Crime has also been formed in this regard sources said The opposition SAD however dubbed the move as political vendettaThe 49-page FIR was registered by the state crime branch at its Mohali police station under various sections of the NDPS ActThe sections include 25 punishment for allowing ones premises for its use for the commission of an offence 27 A for financing sale purchase production manufacture possession transportation use or consumption import and export or any act pertaining to narcotics and 29 for abetting or plotting an offenceThe FIR noted that the legal opinion of Punjabs advocate general too was taken before registering the sameOn the basis of the status report of the STF along with the opinion of the advocate general a cognizable offence is made out and therefore a case be registered and investigated the FIR notedThe FIR stated that the case shall be investigated by a special investigation team for which orders are being issued separatelyAll related aspects and evidence can be examined thoroughly and investigation completed expeditiously as per facts and law it further readThe STF report pending with the high court was based on confessional statements given by some accused includingJagjit Singh Chahal Jagdish Singh Bhola and Maninder Singh Aulakh of the 2013 multi-crore drug racket case given to the Enforcement Directorate EDIn this case Majithia was also questioned by the ED in December 2014 when he was the minister in the Akali governmentAccording to the findings prima facie there is sufficient evidence on record to further investigate the role of Shri Bikram Singh Majithia as regards the allegations made in the application under scrutiny the FIR stated Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the state government is committed to taking legal action against drug traffickers and delivering justice to PunjabisToday the first step has been taken to give justice to all of them victims of drug malady in the state by registering an FIR against Bikram Singh Majithia in Crime Branch Mohali on the basis of the report of the STF that was formed on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court he said in a tweetMajithia was elected to the Vidhan Sabha in 2007 2012 and 2017 and has remained minister for water supply and sanitation information and public relations science technology environment revenue NRI affairs and non-conventional energyReacting on the development former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said it will not stand the legal scrutiny as the government had not followed due process of law Talking to reporters in Muktsar SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal said We already knew it He said the Congress government changed three state police chiefs to book and arrest the Badals and MajithiaTake me wherever you want to I am ready Any government which indulges in this vendetta has to face the consequences Badal the five-time Punjab chief minister saidHe said the job of the government is to serve people and not indulge in political vendettaAAP leader Raghav Chadha dubbed the registration of FIR against Majithia as an election stunt of the ruling CongressHe said he had earlier said that a deal had been reached between SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi to arrest Majithia on the basis of a weak casePunjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu welcomed the development claiming in a series of tweets that it was possible due to his over five-year-long fight with the corrupt system run by Badal Family Captain and a delay of four years due to inaction on the ED STF report against MajithiaHe termed the registration of the FIR a slap on the face of all those powerful who slept for years on issues at the heart of Punjabs soul The Punjab Congress chief has been pressing the Charanjit Singh Channi government to act on the big fish involved in the drug racketA few days ago the Channi government was left embarrassed when a letter by Additional Director General of Police S K Asthana to the then state police chief Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota had surfaced on social mediaAsthana had cited some legal hurdles in conducting reinvestigation in drug cases against MajithiaPTI CHS VSD SRY

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala on Tuesday said sufficient stock of coal is available at present in all thermal power stations located in the state The state government has ensured an adequate supply of electricity to the people in all the areas as per their requirement on a priority basis he said The power minister said this in the state Assembly while responding to a question regarding the coal stock in power plants and the power situation in the state Sharing information about the coal stock available in all the thermal power stations of the state in the state Assembly he said 14 lakh tonnes of coal is available at Panipat Thermal Power Station 212 lakh tonnes at Deen Bandhu Chhoturam Thermal Power Project Yamunanagar 390 lakh tonnes at Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project located at Khedar Hisar and 227 lakh tonnes at Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project NTPC Jhajjar In response to another question duringthe Question Hour Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said directions for special crop inspections have been given to take stock of the damage caused by recent unseasonal rains waterlogging and after receiving the report a decision will be taken by the state government regarding compensation The deputy chief minister said that due to unseasonal rains crops of bajra cotton moong paddy and sugarcane have been damaged in 11 districts of the state He said the state government had directed four divisional commissioners to prepare and send a report in this regard of which the report of two divisional commissioners has been received In response to a question asked related to the Sirsa district he said that in the year 2021 crops in an area of 76782 acres have been affected due to the attack of the pink bollworm pest During the Assembly session proceedings a resolution was unanimously adopted to be sent to the Centre regarding renaming Hisar airport as Maharaja Agrasen Airport Dushyant Chautala moved the resolution in the Vidhan Sabha at the end of the Question Hour to request the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation on behalf of the state government to rename the airport at Hisar as Maharaja Agrasen Airport Meanwhile during the Zero Hour Congress members staged a brief walkout after their demand that the House should adopt a resolution on making the minimum support price legally enforceable was not accepted Congress leader Kiran Choudhary alleged that this government is anti-farmer She said the state government had brought a resolution last year to thank the Centre over farm laws Choudhary said the Centre has recently withdrawn the three black farm laws which have been repealed She urged that the House should adopt a resolution on making the MSP legally enforceable to mitigate the misery and distress of farmers PTI SUN HRS hrs

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI The opposition Congress on Tuesday objected to the provisions in a bill to increase the retirement age of senior officials of the Haryana pond management authoritys by three years It raised objections against the Haryana Pond and Waste Management Authority and some other officers of the body holding office up to the age of 68 from the present 65 years saying anyone can advice government at any age and there was no need to extend the age limit The Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority Amendment Bill 2021 was later passed after a brief discussion in the State Assembly The bill was passed to further amend the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority Act 2018 While raising objections Congress MLA from Mullana in Ambala Varun Chaudhary proposed amendments in the bill and wanted it to be amended bt his plea was not accepted As per the bill the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority Amendment Ordinance 2021 which was promulgated last month stands repealed now To tackle the alarming condition of underground water and poor condition of ponds in many districts in the state the planning and progress of many water bodies is in progress The authority has an executive vice-chairperson technical advisor and member secretary to run the body Some of the officers are attainingmay attain the age of 65 years very shortly as per the bill He further said while the retirement age of Haryana government employees had earlier been reduced from 60 years to 58 years whereas in this Bill extension up to 68 years is provided Judges of high court retire at 62 years those of Supreme court at 65 CAG at 65 but what special competence do the executive vice-chairperson technical advisor and member secretary have that this special provision has been made This is even when they have not made a plan for ponds in Haryana for the last three years after the authority came into existence in 2018 he said Chief Minister M L Khattar however said that making such a provision is nothing new and reminded that even during Congress time such things were done He said sometimes the provision is made when any person who has ability talent and technical expertise is already engaged in tasks of big magnitude When we created the Pond Development Authority we had 18000 ponds in Haryana Planning and other things take time This will take 5 to 8 years If anyone with technical know-how is already engaged in this there is no harm in increasing the age limit said Khattar in the Assembly Senior Congress leader B B Batra however said if the age limit was being increased for a particular individual it should not be done We oppose this said Batra PTI SUN VSD HDA

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI The cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes have slightly increased in Haryana during the last three years but the conviction rate in such cases has not decreased the state assembly was informed on Tuesday Ruling JJP MLA Ishwar Singh had sought to know whether it is a fact that the cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes have increased in the state Haryana Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Minister Banwari Lal in a written response said The cases of atrocities have slightly increased in the state In 2018 a total of 1026 cases were registered 1129 cases in 2019 and 1223 cases were registered in 2020 No the conviction rate of the atrocities cases has not decreased in the state he added The minister also informed the House that monetary relief is provided to the eligible victimstheir family or dependents as per the norms of relief under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Rules 1995 PTI SUN VSD SRY

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI Senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Tuesday resigned from the party saying he was deeply hurt by the bickering and in-fighting within its state unit Sodhi who is the MLA from Guruharsahai in Ferozepur district was the sports minister in the state government led by Amarinder Singh who quit as chief minister in September and left the Congress in November In his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi Sodhi said he was deeply hurt by the bickering and in-fighting within the Punjab Congress This is harming the party as well as causing serious problems for the state and the government he said I feel suffocated and helpless in the present situation especially when the party has put states security and communal harmony at stake Rather than taking action to restore peace in Punjab senior Congress leadership is hell-bent on destroying the border state for their personal gains he wrote Agonised with the current state of affairs I put my resignation from all posts and primary membership of the Congress party with immediate effect said Sodhi who is considered close to Amarinder Singh Sodhi said he had been in the Congress for the last more than four decades I had been hand-picked by our illustrious leader late Shri Rajiv Gandhi ji to contest my first election to the Punjab state assembly from Guruharsahai assembly constituency in district Ferozepur in 1985 he said Stating that he had been a hardcore worker of the party with unflinching loyalty through thick and thin he said he contested and won assembly polls from Guruharsahai four times from 2002 till date Sodhi was dropped as the minister after Charanjit Singh Channi took over as the chief minister PTI CHS VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI Senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Tuesday resigned from the party saying he was deeply hurt by the bickering and in-fighting within the state unitSodhi who is the MLA from Guruharsahai was the sports minister in the state government led by Amarinder Singh who resigned from the post of chief minister in September and left the Congress in NovemberIn his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi Sodhi said he was deeply hurt by the bickering and in-fighting within the Punjab CongressThis is harming the party as well as causing serious problems for the state and the government he saidAgonised with the current state of affairs I put my resignation from all posts and primary membership of the Congress party with immediate effect Sodhi said PTI CHS VSD ANB ANB

Chandigarh Dec 21 PTI Former Punjab minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia has been booked in a drugs case The FIR against Majithia was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act at Mohali on Monday Reacting to the development the SAD termed it as political vendetta PTI CHS VSD AQS AQS