CHANDIGARH -  About 75 per cent of the cultivable land in the country has been adversely affected by excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Commissioner in the Union Ministry of Agriculture Dr JS Sandhu said 114 million hectares of cultivable land out of total 142 million hectares had high levels of toxins.
Sandhu was speaking at [...]

AMRITSAR – Seven daggers of the 18th century Sikh warriors that were stolen from Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama on January 11 at the historic Ram Bagh garden in Amritsar were recovered on Tuesday evening.
These daggers were found in Gurdwara Ramsar near the Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh shrine. Eyewitness said an unidentified woman left the [...]

BATHINDA – Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, announced highway projects worth Rs 15,000 crore for Punjab, besides laying foundation stone for seven concrete road networks worth Rs 3,342 crore meant for the Patiala-Bathinda network.
Addressing a gathering at the Multi Purpose Stadium in Bathinda, Gadkari said: “I am not a minister [...]

CHANDIGARH – The Punjab Police claim to have made 33,000 arrests under the NDPS Act over the past two years. Besides, over 3 crore intoxicating pills and capsules have been seized.
The data is part of a departmental analysis on the present drug situation in Punjab. The police claim they have “won the war against drugs, [...]

CHANDIGARH – International flights at the upcoming Mohali international airport will take off by August-end. The Rs 475 crore airport (minus land cost) is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources in the Punjab government said.
Air India, Indigo and Spicejet have secured permission for operating flights between Chandigarh and Dubai and Chandigarh [...]

JALANDHAR – A criminal, Sukha Kahlwan, was shot dead in the presence of six policemen allegedly by a rival gang at Paddi Khalsa village near Goraya. He was being taken to Nabha jail after a court hearing in Jalandhar.
Kahlwan was facing more than 40 cases of murder, dacoity and robbery in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The [...]

JALANDHAR – Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday exhorted Punjabi Diaspora to establish NRI schools across the state for connecting their future generations with their roots.
Addressing a gathering during the second Non-resident Indian (NRI) Sangat Darshan program here on Friday, the chief minister said through their hard work and dedication, Punjabi NRIs had [...]

High Court Stays Transfer Of ED Officer Who Grilled Drug-Linked Akali Minister Majithia
CHANDIGARH – The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the implementation of transfer orders of the Enforcement Directorate officer, who had questioned Punjab minister Bikram Majithia in the drugs case. A Division Bench of the High Court also called for the record pertaining [...]

AMRITSAR – The malfunctioning of CCTV (close-circuit television) cameras at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama has become an impediment for the police in tracing robbers who decamped with arms belonging to the 18th century Sikh warriors.
Of the nine daggers kept in a glass enclosure on the first floor of the panorama, seven were found missing by [...]

MOGA – Few NRIs have come forward to help people of their village reconstruct a deteriorated school building.
A major portion of the building of Shaheed Head Constable Avtar Singh Senior Secondary School at Kapure village was dismantled a few months ago to avoid any untoward incident.
The locals then approached the state government to get it [...]