Punjab

With a very small window available for the farmers in Punjab and Haryana between harvesting paddy and sowing of wheat, every year, the beginning of the winter season witnesses agro-waste burning in Haryana and Punjab, and the meteorological conditions bring that pollution towards Delhi.

According to the Exit Poll projections, AAP is likely to win 51-61 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. The magic figure to form the government is 59. Punjab's principal Opposition party AAP is likely to wrest power from the incumbent Congress, which, according to the Exit Poll, is likely to win 25 seats. The third spot is expected to be secured by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is projected to win 23 seats.

The Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday said that its alert troops shot down a drone which came from the Pakistan side in Punjab's Ferozepur sector. According to the BSF officials, the forward deployed troopers heard the humming sound of a suspicious flying object around 0255 hours coming from the Pakistani side to India side in the Ferozepur sector.

The shooter, identified as constable Satteppa SK, was among those who died in the incident. Officials said the incident was reported at the barracks of the 114 Battalion in Khasa, some 20 km from the Attari-Wagah border. Sateppa, hailing from Karnataka, allegedly fired at five of his colleagues before shooting himself.

Sixty-three per cent of over 2.14 crore voters in Punjab turned out on Sunday till 5 p.m. to elect 117 members of the Assembly amid minor skirmishes and snags in EVMs, officials said. The Malwa region, which has the highest number of 69 seats, saw the highest poll percentage compared to Doaba and Majha regions. Except some incidents of minor clashes, no major poll-related violence has been reported in the state so far.

“Don't let Bhaiyyas from UP, Bihar, Delhi, enter Punjab,” CM Channi passed the comment during an election rally in Ropar, Punjab. Priyanka Vadra is the congress-in-charge for the upcoming elections in UP. “Bhaiyya” is considered an offensive, disparaging classist slur used to refer to people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who work as contract labourers and farmers in Punjab.

According to a CVoter-ABP News opinion poll released on Monday evening, the AAP is set to win Punjab with a wafer-thin majority while the Congress appears to be way behind, with the Akali Dalled alliance and the BJP-led alliance in collaboration with former Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh trail behind the two leading contenders.

According to officials at Force's Headquarters here, on Wednesday's evening, the troops deployed on the BoP observed some suspicious movement ahead of Border fencing from the Pakistan side in the area of KS Wala under Ferozepur sector. The intruder crossed IB and entered into Indian Territory.

According to the BSF Western Sector officials, the attempts to send narcotics to Punjab via the western border have increased and on January 20, the force recovered around 7.250 kgs of heroin in seven packets on the international border in the Amritsar sector while a Pakistani infiltrator was killed by the alert troopers on January 15.

Punjab Police on March 7, 2018 had lodged a case against more than ten accused in illegal mining case. The ED initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of this FIR which has been accessed by IANS. The FIR was filed under several sections of the IPC. The ED found that money was being laundered by the accused involved in the case and they started probing the matter.