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 area has been cordoned off and additional forces have reached the spot. Police said the terrorists involved in firing have been trapped and an operation has been started by the police and security forces.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Bhupender Yadav, V. Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal held a joint press conference at the Shastri Bhavan here on Thursday and condemned the 'unruly' and 'violent' behaviour of the opposition parties led by the Congress.
Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states as well as where the party is in power as part of an alliance, including Tamil Nadu's M.K. Stalin (DMK), Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM) will also be invited.
Besides, the All India Congress Committee, the Maharashtra and Mumbai verified Congress handles, that of Congress Legislative Party leader and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap, state party social media head Abhijeet Sapkal, and around 500 other leaders at various level have been blocked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the state roadways bus that fell into a 500 metre deep gorge following the massive landslide was recovered this morning, rescuers said.
Senior Home Ministry officials on Thursday reviewed the status of the investigations in the two rape cases in Delhi with officials of the Delhi Police. The review was done on the instructions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the officials said.
