Centre should not 'play with sentiments' of Punjab: CM Mann
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday claimed that the Centre has decided to defer key issues pertaining to Punjab, including the sharing of river waters and other rights with neighbouring states and the Panjab University restructuring.
CM Mann made the claim a day after he spoke at the 32nd meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Faridabad, where he raised the concerns of Punjab.
The Punjab chief minister said he told the meeting that the Centre should not "play with the sentiments" of Punjab while ignoring the state's interests.
"The Centre has deferred all 11 issues relating to Punjab after I raised the concerns of Punjab and called for maintaining the status quo on the issues concerning Punjab. Will not allow the rights of Punjab to be taken over by anyone," Mann told reporters at a press conference.
CM Mann said he strongly opposed all the claims made by neighbouring states at the meeting and told the home minister not to allow them to snatch the rights of Punjab.
"All the issues raised by other states were to snatch the rights of Punjab, and I strongly opposed them," he said.
To help resolve the issue of water scarcity for irrigation purposes in northern India, the chief minister proposed that after annulling the Indus River Waters Treaty, 24 MAF water from the Chenab river should be diverted to Punjab and that could be channelised for irrigation purposes in all northern states.
Asked about pollution in the national capital and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupa's concerns that it is a result of farm fires in Punjab and other northern states, Mann claimed that the image of Punjab was being tarnished unnecessarily and the pollution in Delhi is not a result of farm fires in Punjab, as paddy cultivation is delayed there.
CM Mann said Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have no right in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and their claims in the board do not stand any ground as the BBMB was formed after reorganisation of the state. The chief minister also claimed that Haryana itself had given away its claim on Panjab University a few years ago during the tenure of then chief minister Bansi Lal.
He said the present restructuring of the Panjab University Senate and Syndicate proposed by the Centre has been kept in abeyance, saying the Centre has no intentions of going ahead with the restructuring and demanded that early elections to the Panjab University Senate be declared as the agitating students are suffering.
CM Mann also proposed changing the name of the SYL canal to YSL (Yamuna-Satluj Link) canal by diverting Yamuna waters to Punjab instead.
He said river water agreements need to be reviewed every 25 years as neighbouring states have "made a joke of the waters issue", claiming that Punjab is suffering due to the demands made by neighbouring states.
Mann also called for de-silting of Pong dam and urged the neighbouring states and the Centre to share the burden of de-silting.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
