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Panjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema urged the union government on 17 Jun to take decisive steps to regulate and monitor methyl alcohol (methanol), stressing the need for a dedicated union law to prevent hooch tragedies, and safeguard human lives. Cheema said nearly 90% of methanol consumed in India is imported, which enters the country through ports and customs points, and passes through several states before reaching industrial end-users. Furthermore, the ease of online availability of methanol hampers the ability of state enforcement agencies to monitor, intercept, or prevent misuse of the toxic substance demanding the need for a central law. Additionally, Panjab’s Good Governance and Information Technology Minister Aman Arora said that Panjab government’s initiative ‘Sarkar, Tuhade Dwaar’ (Government at your doorstep) is reshaping Panjab’s governance landscape. Arora said the technology-enabled system has delivered over 310K individual services to citizens who can access 437 government services by simply calling the 1076 helpline or booking appointments through WhatsApp, the online portal or Sewa Kendras (service centers). Once an appointment is booked, trained doorstep delivery operators visit citizens at homes to collect documents and assist in completing applications and online submissions, eliminating the need for repeated visits to government offices. Additionally, Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) declined in Panjab from 111 deaths in 2024–25 to 94 in 2025–26. However, despite the progress, Panjab continues to remain above the national MMR of 88 deaths per 100K live births. Panjab also recorded a notable decline in maternal deaths at 299 during 2025–26, compared to 357 in 2024–25. Meanwhile, teachers in Ludhiana district already performing duties for Population Census 2027 and Drug and Socio-Economic Census during the summer vacation, have now been ordered to work on the welfare scheme Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojana (for adult women)—under which USD 10.58 will be transferred each month to bank accounts of women across state starting July. The order has triggered widespread anger and backlash among teachers against the Aam Aadmi Party government for imposing more non-academic duties on them. Concurrently, Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu announced that the government has revived the long-pending Qadian–Beas railway line project, nearly 100 years after it was first proposed. The 39.68-km-long rail line will connect Qadian, Gurdaspur district with Beas, Amritsar district and will be developed at an estimated cost of USD 1.48B (earlier coverage).
Methanol, Representative Image by The Tribune
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