FASTWAY DRAWS CONG IRE FOR ‘BLACKING OUT’ LIVE COVERAGE
The Fastway cable TV ntwork, allegedly patronised by Badals, came under fire from Congress MLAS for ‘blacking out’ the live coverage of the assembly proceedings on the debate on Ranjit Singh panel report on sacrilege incidents of Guru Granth Sahib.
The issue was raised by several Congress MLAS during the debate, but local bodies minister Navjot Sidhu upped the ante on the issue urging chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to order a crackdown on the cable network for showing live coverage of a “mock session” being held by SAD-BJP MLAS outside the House.
“It’s high time our government took action against the cable network of Badals. CM Saab, book this cable network right now,” he said.
“Otherwise, CM Saab, people will ask us if the government is run by the Congress or these thieves,” Sidhu said while pointing towards the seats of SAD MLAS. Sources in the government told HT that a “strict instructions” were sent to Fatstway managers on Tuesday morning not to disrupt the news channels showing the live proceedings of the debate. The Congress MLAS were miffed that the cable network has not abided by the government directive.
Before Sidhu, jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa showed messages received from the public about “blacking out” of three channels showing live coverage of the debate.
Many MLAS kept on complaining that the live coverage was being disrupted repeatedly and the “mock session” of SADBJP MLAS is being shown on the PTC channel, owned by the Badal family. Earlier, Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Kuljeet Nagra also urged the chief minister to act against Fastway.
STATE TO HAVE TRAUMA CENTRES ON HIGHWAYS
Trauma centres will be opened on all national and state highways in the state, health minister Brahm Mohindra said.
The minister made the announcement while replying to leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema’s query regarding the trauma centre at Dirba mini public health centre. “There is no proposal to set up a trauma centre at Dirba. As per guidelines, the distance between two trauma centres must be 100 km,” he said.