Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Only fully vaccinated people will be permitted at public places such as markets malls hotels and cinema halls in Punjab with effect from January 15 according to a state government order The government ordered private and public sector banks hotels bars restaurants malls shopping complexes cinema halls gyms and fitness centres to allow only fully vaccinated adults All government board and corporation offices located in Chandigarh will allow only fully vaccinated people according to the order issued by the states home affairs and justice department COVID-19 pandemic has posed a huge challenge to the community and affected each and every individual adversely Considering emergent issues especially because of the new variant of concern Omicron the persons who are not fully vaccinated are required to take more precautions the order stated Accordingly all those adult persons who have not yet taken both the doses of vaccination should remain at their residences and should not visit any of public placesmarket function public transportreligious places etc it said It further said that vaccination teams where and whenever demanded by office in charges for on the spot vaccination or for regular vaccination camps at places of gathering would be provided by the department of health it said A few days ago the Punjab government had asked its employees to furnish details regarding COVID-19 vaccination and said if they fail to do so they will not be able to draw their salaries PTI CHS VSD SMN SMN

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the state government has decided to give one-time waiver on payment of interest of pending property tax from 2010-11 to 2020-21 till March 31 2022 This decision will benefit about 1880 lakh property tax payers of the state which includes residential commercial industrial institutions he said while adding that a proposal in this regard has been approved by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Vij said that if such property taxpayers pay all their dues by March 31 2022 then they will be given the benefit an official release said Whoever has arrears of property tax till March 31 2021 and pays all his property tax by March 31 2022 then all such property taxpayers will get a one-time exemption in interest he said The minister said that requests had been received from various categories of people who pay property tax stating that due to the prevailing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic a large number of them were facing financial crisis PTI SUN ANB ANB

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Punjabs Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju on Tuesday urged various departments dealing with students and welfare scheme beneficiaries to help the poll panel in registering new voters turning 18 by January 1 next year CEO Raju made the request to ensure that the state has 100 per cent enrolment of eligible voters before the upcoming assembly polls early next year Accompanied by Additional CEO Amit Kumar the CEO underlined the need to rope in new voters while chairing a meeting of various government departments including Technical Education Employment Generation Sports Medical Education Health and Family Welfare School Education Higher Education Labour Department and Social Justice Empowerment among others The states poll panel chief had on December 21 set up a three-member committee for the identification of new voters Raju said these departments have all the data of young voters and if these departments join hands with the CEO office they could help in registering maximum eligible voters He asked the representatives of these departments to put in maximum efforts in enrolling maximum new voters While assuring all kinds of support from the CEO office Raju said they will depute Block Level Officers BLOs for each unit of focus so that new voters do not face any hassle while registering themselves as electors He also directed these departments to provide data of people born between January 1 2002 to December 31 2003 so that they can be captured and their Electors Photo Identification Card EPIC could be made He said once all the data is collected it will be thoroughly screened and collated PTI CHS VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Shiromani Akali Dal SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the name of former MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura on Tuesday as the party candidate from Khadoor Sahib in the 2022 Punjab Assembly pollsSAD President Sukhbir S Badal has announced former Cabinet Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura as party candidate from Khadoor Sahib Total announced 93 party leader Daljit Singh Cheema said in a tweetBrahmpura rejoined the SAD last weekHe quit the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led SAD Sanyukt as he was against its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP for the Punjab polls PTI CHS VS RC

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI With AAP emerging as the leading party in the Chandigarh municipal corporation polls its national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said people including in Chandigarh and Punjab are fed up with old traditional political parties leaders and old style of politicsThe Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls threw up a hung verdict with the Aam Aadmi Party AAP winning 14 of 35 wards and BJP bagging 12 The Congress got eight seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal onePeople want freedom from corruption and after Delhi Chandigarhs Municipal Corporation or MC election results are a clear example of this The people have chosen the new party AAP new faces and honest politics by shocking the old ones Kejriwal who is the chief minister of Delhi said in a statement hereHe said the people of Chandigarh had truly performed a miracle in the municipal electionsThe results in Chandigarh have dispelled myths and misinformation spread by the AAPs rivals Kejriwal saidI remember when political pundits used to say after the 2017 election results that the AAP was not supported by the urban voters But the victory of Chandigarh has proved that this time the urban masses of Punjab will too stand by the AAP with strength and confidence said Kejriwal whose AAP is the main opposition party in Punjab where assembly polls are due early next yearToday the entire rural and urban population of Punjab perceives the AAP as a great hope as the traditional old parties had disappointed and dismayed people even after repeated opportunities he saidThe whole of Punjab wants change Like Delhi and Chandigarh Punjab wants new faces and honest politics the chief minister saidKejriwal said that in honour of the mandate given by the people of Chandigarh the AAP will move forward along with other elected candidates regardless of the party they belong toThe aim is to make Chandigarh a beautiful city again and free it from all the problems it is facing today That is why AAP will develop Chandigarh by making everyone a partner in this process he saidKejriwal said I bow to the people of Chandigarh I salute Chandigarh for revolutionising like Delhi I would like to assure the people of Chandigarh that the trust they have shown to AAP will not be allowed to falter but will be strengthened by meeting all expectations The AAP will take out a peace march in Patiala on December 31 under Kejriwals leadershipAAP Punjab president and MP Bhagwant Mann said this procession will be dedicated to peace and prosperity of Punjab PTI CHS VSD ANB ANB

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI PTI Haryana on Tuesday reported one Covid-related death and 126 new infections pushing the total fatality count to 10063 and the case tally to 772844 in the state According to the Health Departments daily bulletin the death was reported from Kurukshetra district The bulletin said two fresh cases of Omicron variant of the infection were detected in the state on Tuesday taking the total tally of such cases to fourteen Seven Omicron patients however have been discharged The fresh Covid cases tally meanwhile crossed the 100-mark in the last 24 hours after a gap of a few months Gurugram continued to witness a surge in the Covid-19 cases with 76 fresh Covid cases reported in the district on Tuesday Faridabad and Ambala reported 22 and 12 cases respectively The total active cases in the state have risen nearly three-fold during the past week While the active cases in the state on December 21 were 234 they rose to 627 on December 28 The recovery rate was 9861 per cent the bulletin said PTI SUN VSD RAX RAX

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expanded his cabinet on Tuesday inducting an MLA each from the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and the Jannayak Janta Party JJPIn the second expansion carried out in two years BJPs Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta and JJP MLA Devender Singh Babli who represents Tohana in the Assembly were inducted into the Khattar cabinetThey were administered the oath by Governor Bandaru Dattatreya at a ceremony held at the Haryana Raj Bhavan hereGupta took oath in Sanskrit while Babli took oath in HindiKhattar and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala were present on the occasion among othersWith the induction of the two MLAs the strength of the Haryana council of ministers has gone up to 14 including the chief minister which is the upper limitEarlier 10 MLAs were inducted into the cabinet in November 2019 days after the chief minister and his deputy were sworn in on October 27 2019After Tuesdays cabinet expansion the BJP has 10 ministers including the chief minister and the JJP has three ministers including the deputy chief minister while Ranjit Singh Chautala is the lone Independent MLA inducted as a ministerThe BJP fell short of a simple majority in the October 2019 Haryana Assembly polls winning 40 of the 90 seats and subsequently it forged an alliance with the JJP which has 10 MLAsThe BJP formed the government in the state with the support of the JJP lawmakers and Independent MLAs PTI SUN CHS VSD RC

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday accused the BJP of offering money to his partys three municipal councillors from Chandigarh to poach them AAP leader Raghav Chadha made the allegation a day after the results of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls threw up a hung verdict with AAP winning 14 of 35 wards and BJP bagging 12 The Congress got eight seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal oneAddressing the media here on Tuesday Chadha alleged that some BJP leaders have contacted and even visited the houses of winning AAP candidates and offered them money Two of them were offered Rs 50 lakh and one was offered Rs 75 lakh by BJPs senior leaders on Monday evening for leaving AAP and joining the BJP claimed Chadha without disclosing the names of the councillorsHe said that as a precautionary measure AAP hasdecided to install cameras at the residences of his partys councillors who have also been directed to record the conversation if any BJP leader visits or contacts them He said they would make camera footage and call recordings public if any BJP leader approaches or contacts AAP councilors A party needs 19 votes to have its councilor elected as Mayor Besides 35 councillors the Chandigarh MP who is an ex-officio member in the MC house has a voting right At present BJPs Kirron Kher is the MP from ChandigarhEarlier this month also the AAP had accused the BJP of trying to poach its lawmakers from Punjab with MP Bhagwant Mann claiming he was offered money and a place in the Union Cabinet if he joined the saffron party ahead of the assembly electionThe BJP had dismissed the allegations as baseless PTI CHS VSD RT RT

Chandigarh Dec 28 PTI Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will expand his Cabinet on Tuesday inducting an MLA each from his party BJP and ally Jannayak Janta PartyIn the second expansion to be carried out in two years BJPs Hisar MLA Dr Kamal Gupta and JJPs Tohana MLA Devender Singh Babli will be inducted into the Khattar cabinet Two MLAs will be inducted One is Kamal Gupta second one is Devender Babli Khattar told reporters here ahead of the cabinet expansionYes the suspense is over now Khattar said in a lighter vein when pointed out that the cabinet expansion was finally taking place after months of speculation in this regard After the two MLAs take oath the strength of council of ministers will go up to 14 including the chief minister which is the upper limitEarlier 10 MLAs were inducted into Khattar cabinet in November 2019 days after the chief minister and his deputy Dushyant Chautala were sworn-in on October 27 2019After the cabinet expansion takes place on Tuesday evening the BJP will have 10 ministers including the CM and JJP will have three ministers including Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala while Ranjit Singh Chautala is the lone Independent MLA inducted as a ministerThe BJP fell short of a simple majority winning 40 of the 90 assembly seats in the October 2019 polls and later it forged a post-poll alliance with the JJP which has 10 MLAsPTI SUN VSD DV DV