Chandigarh Apr 23 PTI The Punjab Police has banned jugad rehri carts made of old and condemned motorbikes for transportation of goods citing they could become a cause for accidents In a letter dated April 18 to police commissioners and district police chiefs in the state the additional director general of police traffic directed them to launch a special drive against such carts The move drew the ire of the opposition parties which slammed the AAP-led government in the state saying the ban would render thousands jobless Those who run jugad rehris also condemned the state governments decision and questioned how they would earn their livelihood Scores of people across the state run jugad rehris for selling fruit vegetables transporting items such as cement sand electronic goods and sometimes passengers too Senior vice president of Shiromani Akali Dal Daljit Singh Cheema in a statement released on Saturday said the ban has come as a shock for thousands of people Such persons were selling vegetables carrying waste in cities and were using such facilities created by themselves for transporting various things from one place to another he said Mere issuing of an order without studying the ground reality is not a sign of healthy governance Cheema said adding that while ordering the ban the Mann-led government should have devised some other alternative through which those running jugad rehris could earn their livelihood Congress leader and MLA Sukhpal Khaira too called it a bad decision and said the AAP which claims to represent ordinary and poor people has inflicted havoc on the poorest of the poor and the move will affect the lives of one lakh families The argument given by BhagwantMann govt to ban these Engine Rehrasof poor vendors that they cause road accidents is illogical as most accidents are caused as theres no rule of law or fear of law neither policing on roads besides stray animalsdrunken driving etc Bad decision said Khaira in a tweet PTI CHS VSD CJ CJ

Chandigarh Mar 25 PTI The Punjab government on Friday transferred three senior IPS officers with immediate effect Special Director General of Police Investigation Lokpal Prabodh Kumar a 1988 batch IPS officer has been posted as the Special DGP Intelligence according to an official order Additional Director General of Police Traffic S Srivastava has been given the charge of ADGP Intelligence replacing senior IPS officer Amardeep Singh Rai Rai a 1994 batch IPS officer will take over as the ADGP Traffic from Srivastava Meanwhile according to another order ADGP Gurpreet Kaur Deo has been appointed as the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Punjab Police and he replaces officer Ishwar Singh PTI CHS VSD CJ CJ

Chandigarh Feb 22 PTI The PGIMER on Tuesday evening said it has received eight patients who suffered severe burn injuries in a blast at a firecrackers factory in Himachal Pradeshs Una district All patients are being given requisite emergency care including first aid management for injuries a statement issued by the Chandigarh-based Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research PGIMER read Six migrant workers were killed and 14 others sustained burn injuries in an explosion at an illegal firecracker factory in Una earlier in the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each from the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund to their families and Rs 50000 to those injured PTI CHS VSD CJ CJ

Chandigarh Jan 31 PTI Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal 94 became the countrys oldest candidate to fight elections as he filed his nomination papers from Lambi on Monday Former chief minister Amarinder Singh too filed his nomination papers from Patiala Urban Assembly constituency for the February 20 polls in the state Badal a five-time chief minister completed the paperwork before the returning officer of Malout in Muktsar district officials said With this he broke former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandans record of being the oldest candidate in the fray the CPIM leader was 92 years old when he fought the Assembly polls in 2016 The 11-time MLA has been ruling Lambi since 1997 Capt Amarinder Singh on the other hand was accompanied by BJPs Punjab election in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Singh had been winning from Patiala since 2002 on a Congress ticket However the former army man will represent the Punjab Lok Congress a party he floated after exiting the Congress last year The 79-year-old scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family served as chief minister of Punjab twice He however could not complete his tenure as the Congress unseated him from the post in September amid a bitter power tussle with Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu Voting for Punjabs 117 Assembly seats will be held on February 20 and the counting will take place on March 10 PTI CHS VSD CJ CJ

Chandigarh Dec 17 PTI Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday promised to launch an urban employment guarantee mission to provide the right to jobs to urban labour in the state if his party returns to power Noting that urban poverty in Punjab was double the rural poverty he said the employment guarantee scheme will also cover unskilled labour The Punjab model will launch an urban employment guarantee mission right to employment for urban labour Sidhu told reporters It is like MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in urban areas he said while dubbing this mission as radical and revolutionary of his Punjab model of governance According to Sidhu less than one per cent of daily wager labourers and construction workers among others have registered themselves as beneficiaries of various government schemes He said he met some labourers at Madanpura Chowk in Mohali earlier in the day and asked them how many of them were registered for availing benefits of government schemes Of the 150 daily labourers only one hand was raised I asked how many of them had labour cards to which they said officials demanded money he said You cannot give benefits of government schemes if you do not know who the recipient is he said Sidhu pointed out hardships faced by the daily-wagers in the wake of rising cost of essential commodities The Punjab assembly polls are due early next year PTI CHS VSD CJ CJ