Chandigarh Sep 17 PTI Haryana Police on Friday said it seized 28230 prohibited medicines and 104 medical termination of pregnancy MTP kits during a raid at a house in Karnal district A police team got a tip-off that accused Kamal Sikka who has been supplying prohibited medicines for a long time has brought a large quantity of intoxicants MTP kits and other banned medicines from Delhi a statement by the police said The input was that he has kept some medicines at home and went to supply the rest to someone it added Based on the credible input a police team along with drug control authorities conducted a raid at the house in New Premnagar A search by the team led to the seizure of the prohibited medicines and MTP kits police said During initial probe it was revealed that accused Kamal Sikka is involved in illegal trade of bringing prohibited medicines from Delhi at cheap prices and supplying them at higher rates The accused had brought these banned medicines from Delhi in the train The investigation also revealed that the accused was earlier arrested in 2015 by the Karnal police with prohibited medicines He came out of the jail a few months back after serving a five-year sentence they said A case has been registered in this connection and efforts are being made to arrest the accused police said PTI SUN AQS AQS

Chandigarh Sep 17 PTI Punjab on Friday reported 29 fresh coronavirus cases that pushed its infection tally to 601206 according to a medical bulletinThe death toll remained unchanged at 16467 the bulletin statedOf the latest cases Amritsar reported six Pathankot five and Jalandhar fourThere are 309 active COVID-19 cases in Punjab the bulletin saidThirty-one more people recovered from the disease taking the total number of recoveries to 584430 it saidMeanwhile Chandigarhs COVID-19 tally climbed to 65172 with four fresh cases the bulletin saidThe union territory has reported 818 deaths so far it saidThe number of active COVID-19 cases in Chandigarh stands at 34 while 64320 people have recovered from the disease so far according to the bulletin PTI CHSVSD DIV DIV

Chandigarh Sep 17 PTI Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday demanded immediate scrapping of the Centres new farm laws calling for detailed discussions with farmers to find a way forwardPointing out that many farmers had died in the protests against these laws which were passed by the parliament a year ago he said the Centre should withdraw the legislations in the interests of farmers and the nationSingh was speaking after inaugurating the third state-level virtual Kisan Mela organised by the Punjab Agricultural University PAU LudhianaIt is high time the central government realised its blunder and withdraw the legislations in the interest of farmers and the nation he saidThe chief minister who wore a no farmers no food badge said Till date the Constitution of India has been amended as many as 127 times so why can it not be amended once again to scrap the farm laws and resolve the imbroglio resulting from them What is the problem in doing it a 128th time he sought to know from the BJP-led central governmentHe also alleged that the Centre was out to ruin the farmersThe senior Congress leader further said what was happening with the farmers today was extremely sad given the immense contribution made by them to Indias development and progressThe two-day Kisan mela is centred on the theme Karie Parali Di Sambhal Dharti Maa Hove Khushal in line with the state governments focus on eliminating stubble burning an official statement saidRecalling that he was asked by the Centre to stop Punjabs farmers from going to Delhi last November Singh said he had outright refused to do so as protest is the democratic right of farmersHe made it clear that he continues to stand with the farmers in their fight against the draconian legislations with his government continuing to give compensation and jobs to families of deceased farmersNoting the contribution of Punjab and its farmers to the countrys growth the chief minister said the state with only 153 per cent of total geographical area of India produces about 18 per cent of the countrys wheat 11 per cent paddy 44 per cent cotton and 10 per cent milkFor the past many decades Punjab has been contributing about 35-40 per cent of wheat and 25-30 per cent of rice to the central pool he said expressing pride in the achievements of the states farmersThe CM also pointed out that the state had attained a record wheat productivity 5188 kghectare and production 1826 lakh tons during 2018-19It also achieved record rice productivity 4366 kghectare and production 1338 lakh tons during 2017-18 Record cotton productivity was also achieved during 2019-20 he addedSingh urged farmers to take full advantage of PAUs advancements in technologies seeds among othersPTI SUN VSD SRY