Chandigarh, March 17 (IANS) The newly constituted legislative assembly, whose three-day session began here on Thursday, was different as most of the security guards did not recognise a few new faces who arrived for the session.
The first of the session commenced with Pro-tem Speaker Inderbir Singh Nijjar administering the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as Member of the Vidhan Sabha.
Breaking the convention, all women members were administered oath after the Chief Minister.
Thereafter, all other members were sworn in by the Speaker as members of the newly constituted Assembly district-wise in an alphabetical order.
The Chief Minister announced an anti-corruption helpline.
A day after resigning from the post of Punjab Congress chief, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East), supported Mann's crusade against corruption.
"The happiest man is the one from whom no one expects. Bhagwant Mann unfurls a new anti-mafia era in Punjab with a mountain of expectations, hope he rises to the occasion, brings back Punjab on the revival path with pro-people policies, best always," Sidhu said in a tweet.
Rising from the ashes like the phoenix, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) last week, in a maiden emphatic win, crushed the traditional players that ruled the border state of Punjab for over seven decades with its stunning victory largely by its greenhorns on 92 of the 117 seats of the legislative assembly.
The previous ruling Congress, which won 77 seats in 2017, managed to win only 18 seats with most of its stalwarts like Chief Minister Charanjit Channi and state party chief Sidhu facing humiliating defeat from their respective strongholds.
The Punjab Police on Wednesday evening charged former state DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and six other police officials at Mohali in a 29-year-old case of alleged kidnapping, torture, and “stage-managed elimination” of Balwant Singh Multani, son of IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani. In the FIR filed, Palwinder Singh Multani, brother of the alleged victim, has named six other police officials, including DSP Baldev Singh Saini, Inspector Satvir Singh, SI Har Sahai Sharma, SI Jagir Singh, SI Anoop Singh and ASI Kuldip Singh.
British Columbia is unveiling a digital registration system for evacuees as the province prepares for the upcoming wildfire season while coping with physical distancing restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A statement from the Ministry of Public Safety says the new platform will allow communities to provide emergency support services, including evacuee self-registration and referrals.
Indians stranded abroad because of the coronavirus pandemic will be brought back home as of May 7th but it will be a gradual process. Aircraft and naval ships will be arranged for their travel, the government said in a statement, adding the service will be offered on "payment-basis". Only those asymptomatic will be allowed onboard.
Two terrorists and an associate have been killed in an encounter that began on Saturday morning in Awantipora, a city in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. As of this writing, a search operation was still ongoing.
In India more than 23,000 people have, or have had, the new coronavirus, central health ministry data showed on Friday. More than 700 of those infected have died -- a dreadful total, but a relatively low number compared to fatalities in other countries facing outbreaks. India is currently under an extended lockdown til May 3rd that was imposed last month to contain the spread of the virus, which is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets.
Two people have been arrested for attacking prominent journalist Arnab Goswami and his wife. A FIR has been registered at the NM Joshi Marg Police station. Goswami in his complaint to the police has alleged that he and his wife were attacked by Youth Congress workers when they were driving back home from the Republic TV Headquarters in Worli.
