NATIONAL POLICY FRAMEWORK ON AGRICULTURAL MARKETING: KHUDIAN CALLS IMMEDIATE MEETING WITH FARMERS, STAKEHOLDERS

* Not a single point should be left unconsidered, Agriculture Minister asks officials

* Shoots letter to Drafting Committee seeking 3-weeks time to send comments on draft Policy

Chandigarh, December 16:Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian, on Monday, held a threadbare deliberations with the senior officers of the department on the draft of “National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing” at his office here and decided to call an immediate meeting with farmers and other stakeholders within this week.

S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian, along with Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Mr. Anurag Verma, Chairman of Punjab State Farmers' & Farm Workers' Commission Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Secretary Punjab Mandi Board Mr. Ramvir, asked the department officials to call a meeting with representatives of farmers, Agriculture experts and other stakeholder immediately to analyze and consult on the draft policy shared by the GoI.

He further said that the draft policy needs thorough analysis and consultation with stakeholders as it could have serious implications for the State and its farmers. He further informed that the Agriculture department has already shot a letter to Dr. S.K. Singh, Deputy Agriculture Marketing Adviser and Convener of the Drafting Committee, GoI, to give at least three weeks time to send comments on the draft Policy.

Reaffirming the Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government’s unwavering stand for the betterment and welfare of the state farmers, the Agriculture Minister directed the officials to conduct an in-depth study of the draft policy to ensure that not a single point should be left unconsidered, which could further prove to be dearer to the farming community in short run or in future.

He also asked the officials concerned to lay a special focus on concerning issues such as MSP, Market fee to further strengthen Mandi Board in general and the state’s agriculture marketing infrastructure in specific, besides ensuring a safe environment that can safeguard farmers interests from big corporates.

The high-level meeting was also attended by Director Agriculture Mr. Jaswant Singh, HoD Economic and Sociology (PAU) Dr. Jitender Mohan Singh and senior officials of Punjab Mandi Board and Agriculture department.

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PUNJAB POLICE ARRESTS FOUR OPERATIVES OF CANADA-BASED TERRORIST ARSH DALLA; THREE PISTOLS RECOVERED

— PUNJAB POLICE COMMITTED TO MAKING PUNJAB A SAFE AND SECURE STATE

— ARRESTED PERSONS WERE HATCHING CONSPIRACY TO EXECUTE MORE CRIMES IN PUNJAB ON DIRECTIVES OF ARSH DALLA, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV

— ARRESTED OPERATIVES WERE RECENTLY INVOLVED IN FIRING AT A CAR ACCESSORIES SHOWROOM IN MOHALI: ADGP AGTF PROMOD BAN

CHANDIGARH, December 16:In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive against organised crime, Punjab Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) in a joint operation with SAS Nagar Police has arrested four operatives of Canada-based terrorist Arsh Dalla and another foreign based-handler and recovered three .32 calibre pistols along with 16 cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.

Those arrested have been identified as Gagandeep Singh and Navjot Singh alias Nishu, both residents of Amloh in Fatehgarh Sahib and currently staying at a rental accommodation in Kharar; Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Bhadson in Patiala and Vipanpreet Singh, a resident of Faridkot. Apart from recovering arms and ammunition, police teams have also impounded their white swift car, in which they were travelling.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the arrested persons confessed to have opened fire at the car accessories showroom situated in Phase 11, Mohali on the intervening night of December 1 and 2 this year with an intention to intimidate the shop owner and extort money from him as directed by their foreign-based handler identified as Daljit Singh alias Ninda. The latter is a history sheeter, who fled to USA on passport with fake particulars and associated with radicalised USA-based gangster, he added.

The DGP said that the module was linked with radical Arsh Dala and were planning to execute more crimes in Punjab at his behest. All the arrested accused have an extensive criminal history with a number of cases registered against them, he said, while adding that further investigations are ongoing to identify more persons involved in this module.

Sharing operational details, ADGP AGTF Promod Ban said following the firing incident at car accessories showroom in Mohali, special teams of AGTF under the supervision of AIG Gurmeet Chauhan and AIG Sandeep Goel in coordination with SSP SAS Nagar Deepak Pareek were formed to Crack the case.

The teams gathered CCTV footages, technical inputs and evidence from the crime spot which led to identification of the accused including the two shooters involved in the crime, he said, while adding that acting swiftly, the teams successfully traced them, while they were travelling in their Swift car, and arrested them from near Focal Point, Mohali after recovering weapons used in the crime.

The ADGP said that preliminary investigations have revealed that accused Gagandeep and Navjot alias Nishu opened fire at the car accessories shop, while accused Lakhwinder assisted them with the logistics, whereas accused Vipanpreet had provided them with the weapons on the instructions of Arsh Dalla.

SSP Deepak Pareek said that the accused Gagandeep was also wanted in a dacoity case registered at Police Station Amloh, while accused Vipanpreet was previously involved in two firing incidents in Jalandhar involving a singer in March 2024 and at Faridkot in January 2024, he added.

A case FIR No 40 dated 15/12/2024 has been registered under sections 111 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 25(6)(7) of Arms Act at Police Station State Crime, SAS Nagar.

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Vigilance Bureau arrests Punjab Warehousing Corporation Inspector taking Rs. 45,000 bribe

Chandigarh December 16, 2024 -The Punjab Vigilance Bureau during its ongoing drive against corruption in the state, on Monday arrested Amit Kumar Kakkar, Inspector, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, posted at Ferozepur red handed while he was accepting a bribe of Rs. 45,000.

Disclosing this here today an official spokesperson of the VB said the above said accused has been arrested based on a complaint lodged by Mohan Lal, a commission agent from Ferozpur.

He further added that the complainant has approached the VB and alleged that above said accused official has been demanding a bribe for passing the bills pertaining to the labour and sewing charges of purchased paddy bags at Rs two per bag but the deal was settled at Rs 1.30 per bag amounting to Rs 45,000 bribe money.

The spokesperson informed that after a preliminary enquiry into this complaint the VB team laid a trap during which the accused Inspector has been arrested while he was accepting a of Rs. 45,000 from the complainant in presence of two official witnesses and bribe money was also recovered. In this regard a case has been registered against both the accused under Prevention of Corruption Act at VB police station Ferozepur range and further investigation into this case was under progress, he said

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Meet Hayer raises issue of farmers in Parliament, Accuses Modi government of reneging on promises

Government doesn't cares about health of veteran farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal

Food donor farmers are being prevented from coming to National capital: Meet Hayer

Chandigarh/New Delhi, December 16:Lok Sabha member from Sangrur Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday raised the issue of farmers in Parliament in a thunderous manner and accused the Narendra Modi government of reneging on it's promises. He said that farmers are being prevented from coming to the national capital and veteran farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on hunger strike for 21 days but the government is not worried at all.

Meet Hayer said that when the farmers had to stage protests to get the draconian laws repealed, 700 farmers were martyred during that time and they were promised in writing the MSP guarantee but the same has not been fulfilled yet. Jagjit Singh Dallewal is sitting on the Khanauri border not for his personal interests but for the sake of the farmers of the country. While the government has waived off Rs. 10 lakh Crore of a few hundred industrialists, the loans of farmers who constitute half the population are not being waived.

The Member Parliament further said that India has become the fifth largest economy in the world but the real situation is that we are at number 141 in per capita income and out of a population of 140 Crore, only 10 percent of the people earn more than Rs. 25,000 per month with 90 percent of the people earning less than Rs. 25,000. A large number of these are farmers to whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised that their income would be doubled after the formation of the government in 2014. Alas, 11 budgets have been presented since then but not even a single time was any mention made about increasing the income of farmers.

Meet Hayer further said that there is no village in Punjab where the bodies of the youth who protected the country's borders are not found wrapped in the tricolour. Around 80 percent of sacrifices were made in freedom movement by the State and our farmers also contributed hugely to make the country self-reliant. Today, the farmers of Punjab are not allowed to come to the capital even though they want to come on foot only in small numbers but the government is behaving in a dictatorial way. Today, the border between the two states has been made an international border.

Meet Hayer requested the government to fulfil the written promise and guarantee MSP to the farmers. Earlier, 700 farmers have given their lives and now no other farmer should lose his life and they should get their rights.

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Vigilance Bureau arrests two RTA office officials for accepting Rs 5500 bribe

Chandigarh December 16, 2024 -The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB), during its ongoing campaign against corruption in the state, on Monday has apprehended Jatinder Kumar, data entry operator and Mukesh, both posted at Registration and Transport Authority (RTA) office Pathankot for accepting a bribe of Rs 5500.

Disclosing this here today an official spokesperson of the state VB said the above-mentioned accused have been arrested based on a complaint lodged by Surjit Kumar, a resident of village Manwal, in Pathankot district.

He informed that the complainant has approached the VB and alleged in his complaint that the above said accused have demanded a bribe of Rs 5500 for transferring his vehicle from Himachal Pradesh number to Punjab state registration number.

The spokesperson added that after a preliminary enquiry into this complaint the VB team laid a trap during which both the aforementioned accused were caught red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 5500 from the complainant in the presence of official witnesses.

He added that in this regard a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against both the accused at VB Police Station, Amritsar range. The accused would be produced in the competent court tomorrow and further investigations into this case was under progress.