Muktsar (Punjab), Feb 26: Seepage water in canals in Punjab's Muktsar district has caused water logging in fields.

Water logged fields and houses in the area have developed crack.

The fields, which used to yield crops, are now serving as habitat for wild ducks. The situation has forced the farmers to abandon farming and work as daily wage laborers.

"The farmers who were owners of 40 acres farmlands are now forced to work as daily wage laborers. They have no other alternative as their fields have been destroyed by waterlogging," said Hajoor Singh, a farmer.

Muktsar (Punjab), Feb 2

Killer roads in Doda claimed 39 lives on Wednesday when a bus with 52 passengers fell into a 200m deep gorge at Galgandhar stretch on the Doda-Baderwah highway.

This is the 11th road accident in Doda this year. About 120 accidents in Doda and Kashtiwar last year left 59 dead and 253 injured. Doda district development commissioner Sharief-ud-din said the bus driver probably could not negotiate a narrow stretch and rolled into the gorge. "The bus was coming from Baderwah to Doda. Boulders were scattered around as the road is under construction," said Sharief.

Ropar (Punjab), Feb 24: Union Minister of Human Resource Development Arjun Singh will lay the foundation stone of the campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, in Punjab today.

This new IIT is part of the eight new IITs that have been established in the country by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development during XIth Plan.

Khatkar Kalan (Punjab), Feb 23 : Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday termed Pakistan as the epicenter of terrorism in the world, and said Islamabad has been forced by the Indian policy to admit that its soil was being used for terrorist attacks on India.

Khatkar Kalan (Punjab)/ New Delhi, Feb 23 : Congratulating the team of ''Slumdog Millionaire'' for its resounding success at the Oscars, Home Minister P. Chidambaram today said he would ask the Finance Ministry to exempt from taxation all cash prizes won by A R Rahman at the Oscars.

"If the Oscars carry any cash award, I would recommend to the Finance Minister that it should be exempt from taxation," Chidambaram said while addressing a public function at Khatkar Kalan in Punjab today.