R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Jagraon
Tewari hits out at state govt: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday lashed out at the Punjab Government for its shoddy procurement of paddy across the state. He said the state government could not get away from assuming its responsibility by simply shifting the blame on the Centre. Tewari further said, “If farmers from Punjab can sell their paddy in Haryana mandis so conveniently, something must be wrong with the state machinery here.” Tewari also urged the Food Corporation of India chairman, C Vishwanath, to take a sympathetic view and relax procurement norms.

Ludhiana
25,000 posts in Punjab vacant: Over 25,000 posts of principal, teacher, lecturer, etc. are lying vacant in the state. Of the total 1,388 sanctioned posts of principal in government senior secondary schools in the state, 492 were vacant. Similary, 9,000 posts of teacher were also lying vacant. Ramanjit Singh Sandhu, president of Democratic Teachers Front, said the education in the state was suffering due to the shortage of staff.

I-T dept to train SEBI officials: From now on, the Income Tax officials will train officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in conducting searches, attaching properties and bank accounts. The stock market regulator recently acquired these new powers. SEBI has formed a separate division and appointed a recovery officer to execute its operations. SEBI has also obtained critical powers to seek information from any individual to carry out investigations.