Ludhiana, Nov 22 (IANS) Declaring a war against the cable mafia, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday announced to fix the monthly rate of a cable TV connection at Rs 100 to eliminate cartelisation across the state.
Addressing a public gathering here, Channi categorically said people are being unnecessarily harassed by the cable mafia by levying hefty charges which would not be tolerated anymore in future.
Channi said all such businesses of transport and cable are owned by the Badal family and now the people need not to pay more than Rs 100 per month, adding strict action would be taken against those not adhering to the new rates.
"If anyone harasses you, inform me," Channi said.
He also announced that all illegal bus permits would be revoked and in turn allotted to the unemployed youth.
The Chief Minister also announced that in the next 10 days, the services of all 'safai sewaks' working in the municipal councils and corporations would be regularised and there would be no condition of 10 years service, besides scrapping contract system for recruitment.
He reiterated that the state government is fully committed for the welfare of the poor and ensuring holistic development of the state and its prosperity.
The civil secretariat houses the top offices of the government, including those of the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and his advisors. Police tried to intervene to restrain the mourners from carrying out the sit-in outside the civil secretariat.
"My son will go to the police tomorrow and assist the probe. He has not escaped anywhere," Mishra said on his arrival in Lucknow. He said that his son was very much in their house in Lakhimpur.
Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday proceeded on indefinite fast in support of his demand for action against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and main accused in Sunday's violence in which nine persons, including four farmers, were killed.
Following a tipoff, the DRI sleuths swooped on the port on October 4 and detected the huge narcotics contraband, valued at Rs 125 crore, among boxes of a cooking oil container arriving from Iran and are now probing the possibility of a bigger drug smuggling racket with international ramifications for India and other countries.
A total of 27.6 per cent of the respondents are 'satisfied to some extent', while 6.1 per cent chose the 'can't say/don't know' category. In the 'very much satisfied' category, Uttar Pradesh tops the list at 40.3 per cent, followed by Uttarakhand at 34.8 per cent, Manipur at 33 per cent, Goa at 18.8 per cent and Punjab at 14.4 per cent.
The UK travel advisory had made 10-day quarantine mandatory for Indian travellers, who have received both doses of Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII).