Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI The Punjab government on Thursday ordered a special girdawri to assess the damage to cotton crop due to pink bollworm pest attack The order in this regard was issued by Deputy Chief Ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and O P Soni according to an official statement They presided over a meeting with the senior officials of the Agriculture and Cooperation Department here Comprehensive discussions on the issue of shortage of DAP and urea supply were held in the meeting It was decided that keeping in view less supply allocation by the government of India to Punjab the matter should be taken up with the Department of Fertilizers for increasing the supply of DAP and urea as the sowing season of wheat is fast approaching in November In the meeting works pertaining to both the departments were also reviewed PTI CHS VSD BAL BAL BAL BAL

Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI One coronavirus-related death was reported in Punjab on Thursday while 25 fresh infections raised the tally to 601422 according to a medical bulletin The death toll stood at 16503 Among new COVID-19 cases Pathankot reported eight cases followed by three cases each in Amritsar Gurdaspur and Jalandhar The number of active cases was 300 Thirty-nine people recovered from the infection taking the number of those who have been cured to 584619 according to the bulletin Chandigarh reported a single case taking the total count of coronavirus to 65202 With no death reported in the last 24 hours the toll stood at 819 The number of active cases in the city was 40 while the number of cured persons was 64343 PTI CHSVSD CK

Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI Haryana reported no new coronavirus-linked death even as the state added 14 fresh cases on Thursday pushing the infection count to 770784 according to an official bulletin According to the health departments daily bulletin the death toll remained unchanged at 9809 Among the districts Gurugram and Panchkula reported seven and four cases respectively The number of active cases in the state stands at 106 while the overall recoveries have reached 760039 Haryana has a COVID-19 recovery rate of 9868 per cent the bulletin said PTI SUN VSD CK CK

Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday announced that the partys Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh outreach programme will begin from Karnal on October 10 on the completion of two years of the BJP-JJP government in HaryanaHe said the outreach programme will begin from Karnal the home constituency of Chief Minister Manohar Lal KhattarHooda said the principal opposition party will go among the people and listen to their pain and problems and will raise their voice from the streets to the Vidhan Sabha He said the decision to start the programme was taken in a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party here on WednesdayThe Congress is the only opposition party in the Haryana Assembly today while the rest of the parties are either supporting the government or have no representative in the assembly Hence it is our responsibility to go among the people and become its voice he saidHooda who is the Leader of Opposition said the Congress would go to every corner of the state and discuss state-level and local issues in detail with the peopleThese issues of the people will be raised in the assembly with full preparation and the coalition government will be forced to fulfill its promises he saidIn the first phase of the Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh programme the former CM will go to all the districts and in the second phase there will be public interaction at the assembly levelThere will not only be speeches but we will be in the midst of people from morning till evening and will communicate directly with them he said and added that the people of the state were allegedly suffering due to wrong policies of the governmentHaryana has lagged behind in every aspect of development during the two years of the coalition government he allegedThe ruling combine did not fulfil any of the promises made in their election manifestos Farmers were not given rates of crops as per the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission no law was made to guarantee crop MSP bonus of Rs 100 per quintal was not given on crops free tube well connections were not given to farmers among othersOn the contrary the present government has made the state number one in unemployment crime corruption and misery Hooda said listing out the alleged failures of the state governmentThe Congress leader said the present dispensations promise of doubling the income of farmers has also proved to be a jumla gimmickThe latest National Sample Survey Office NSSO report has revealed that during the tenure of the BJP government the income of farmers has decreased instead of increasing Similar breaches and failures of the government will be exposed through the Vipaksh Aapke Samaksh programme he addedPTI SUN VSD SRY

Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal on Thursdayordered a special girdawari revenue survey for the assessment of crop damage caused by heavy rain in some parts of the state To compensate the farmers on time he said the officials have been directed to complete the process of girdawari at the earliest Notably moderate to heavy rains have lashed many parts of Haryana during the past few daysThe minister said the Haryana government has decided to cover farmers growing horticultural crops under the Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima schemeHe said the Haryana government has been making sterling efforts to take welfare decisions for farmersMoreover efforts have been made to connect the youth with the business of beekeeping mushroom milk processing fisheries etc he saidHe said 8-10 per cent of the area is under horticulture crops in the state and earlier there was no insurance scheme for these cropsTotal 21 vegetables fruits and spice crops will be covered under the scheme which was approved by the state cabinet on WednesdaySometimes farmers growing horticulture crops have to bear huge financial losses due to various factors This scheme will compensate the farmers suffering due to the crop damage caused by sudden outbreak of crop diseases insect-pests infestation unseasonal rainfall hailstorms drought and frost etc Meanwhile with an aim to promote bee keeping in the state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday launched the Haryana Bee Keeping Policy-2021 and Action Plan 2021-2030 Khattar directed the officers to aim at enhancing the production of honey by 10 times by 2030 He also directed officers to motivate the farmers to start bee keeping and get 5000 new farmers to take up the initiative for which the state will provide help Director General Horticulture Department Arjun Singh Saini said Haryana stands at 7th place in honey production in the country He said 4800 MT of honey is produced in Haryana The country produced about 1 lakh MT of honey in 2019-2020 PTI SUN ANU ANU

Chandigarh Sep 23 PTI The Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab government on Thursday shunted Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan and appointed Anirudh Tewari in her place sources said Tewari is a 1990-batch IAS officer and is currently holding the position of the Additional Chief Secretary of Development Food Processing and Horticulture Mahajan a 1987-batch officer was appointed as the chief secretary last year during the Amarinder Singh-led regime and she was the first woman to hold the post in the state Mahajan was considered close to Amarinder Singh who resigned as the chief minister last week following a power tussle in the ruling Congress PTI CHS VSD SMN SMN