Sukhdeep Kaur is an assistant editor with the Punjab bureau. She covers politics, social issues and special projects, including on-the-ground reporting during critical situations.
Articles by Sukhdeep Kaur
Bureaucracy allies with FMs to juggle budget figures
The state, which had projected Rs 7,089-crore revenue deficit in its presentation to the Planning Commission for approval of the annual plan in May 2012 presented a budget a month later in June with Rs 3,123 crore as the revenue deficit.
Updated on Sep 29, 2014 10:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
Urge to splurge, not militancy to blame for Punjab's debt crisis
Punjab's "colossal" debt is a legacy of its successive governments' urge to splurge. The Rs 1.03 lakh crore bailout that the Parkash Singh Badal government is seeking from the "friendly" Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Updated on Sep 28, 2014 07:29 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
Murmurs of revolt against him, Bajwa calls infighting a ‘headache
The meeting of the Punjab Congress to corner the Parkash Singh Badal government over the issue of the “insulting remarks” made by Fatehgarh Sahib sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Pooja Syal Grewal against party’s Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra and to gear up for the upcoming municipal committee polls ended with murmurs of revolt against Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa.
Updated on Sep 24, 2014 08:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
First-person account: ‘Kaun sa channel hai? Kya dikhane aaye ho?’
“You will get no cab or hotel in Srinagar right now. There is a relief camp outside, talk to the some army officer there for help,” a BSF jawan tells me at the Srinagar airport after I landed from Chandigarh at 4 pm on September 9. My mobile showing no-coverage sign, I go to the Spicejet counter for help.
Updated on Sep 20, 2014 12:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
If angry people throw stones, it should not be taken seriously: Union home secy
The rescue and relief efforts undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir were on a war footing, said union home secretary Anil Goswami on Wednesday, who was camping in Srinagar for nearly a week. "We made an air bridge between Srinagar and Jammu. Aircraft and helicopters were flying every two minutes," he said.
Updated on Sep 19, 2014 07:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Desperate migrant workers leave the Valley in droves
The fear of epidemic and loss of livelihood is seeing migrant workers leave Srinagar in droves. Outside the airport, there is once again a deluge of people waiting to fly back home.
Updated on Sep 18, 2014 01:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Migrant workers pay small fortunes to leave Srinagar
The fear of epidemic and loss of livelihoods witnessing migrant workers leave Srinagar in droves. Jahangir Mohammad from Araria in Bihar waited for a free flight for two days outside the airport in the BSF relief camp, but on Wednesday he booked a Spicejet flight to Chandigarh for Rs 2,250.
Updated on Sep 18, 2014 12:22 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Search begins for the missing
Babar Chaudhary, a 27-year-old hotelier living in Rajbagh area of Srinagar, was rescued from the rooftop of his submerged two-storied house along with his mother and two domestic help after seven hours.
Updated on Sep 17, 2014 09:07 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Lal Chowk (srinagar)
J-K floods: Search begins for the missing
Anger and despair normal in such adverse conditions, say psychiatrists visiting relief camps.
Updated on Sep 17, 2014 01:53 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Lal Chowk, Srinagar
J-K floods: Now deluge of health camps in Srinagar
With fears of epidemic looming large, the focus of flood relief in Srinagar has shifted from supply of food to preventing the outbreak of disease. The Omar Abdullah government has sprung into action and is running more than 150 medical camps in Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag areas along with the army.
Updated on Sep 16, 2014 08:58 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
J-K floods: When waters rose, Muslims in Srinagar rescued Pandits
When flood waters were rising by a few feet every hour, the family of a Kashmiri Pandit was among the first to be rescued by Sohail Tabrez and Akil, resident's of Srinagar's Wazirbagh locality.
Updated on Sep 16, 2014 09:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Wazirbagh (srinagar)
Worst over, Omar regime ‘takes charge’ of relief ops
Limping back to its feet a week after floods devastated Jammu and Kashmir, the Omar Abdullah government finally moved towards taking charge of the relief operations. Union home ministry officials supervising operations in Srinagar said the state government had formed teams to work with various departments of the central government now.
Updated on Sep 15, 2014 10:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
J-K: Rescued newborn waits for her parents
Eighty children from the critical care unit were rescued by doctors and army personnel on their laps and taken in boats on September 7. Among them was a week-old girl from Gundemogsud village in Baramulla.
Updated on Sep 15, 2014 06:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
J-K: Omar govt takes charge of relief operations
The Omar Abdullah -government is now taking “charge” of the relief operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Union health ministry proposes to mobilise boats to send medical supplies to the people trapped in the submerged areas of Srinagar and are finding it impossible to venture out of their houses.
Updated on Sep 15, 2014 02:59 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Flood water recedes, but fear over casualties grows in Srinagar
A news agency on Saturday said that the bodies of 14 children were found in the GB hospital. There were also unsubstantiated reports of bodies flowing into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Updated on Sep 14, 2014 02:34 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Gurdwara a symbol of communal harmony in flood-hit Srinagar
Amid anger and hostility, there are heart-warming stories of communal harmony coming out of flood-ravaged Srinagar. The Shahid Bunga Gurdwara in Burzulla has emerged as a major relief centre for people affected by the Kashmir floods.
Updated on Sep 13, 2014 08:09 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
1.25 lakh rescued, focus on relief with caution
Flooded homes, floating cars, thousands living in tents and on the pavement of the overbridge. Locals, migrant workers and students seeking a lift to the airport from passing cars, SUVs and tempos. Bemina in the outskirts of Srinagar is still to come to terms with the floods that have reduced it to a slum.
Updated on Sep 13, 2014 08:08 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Bemina
J-K floods: Stuck on rooftops for days, yet reluctant to leave
A diabetic and hypertension patient, Ameena Begum, 80, couldn't sit or move because of her aching joints, and she was was dangerously running out of medicines when rescue workers arrived.
Updated on Sep 12, 2014 12:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Amid tragedy, fear of looting grips locals
The fear of being robbed of their household goods has apparently forced several Kashmiris to stay put in their homes in flooded areas even as authorities scramble to rescue others.
Updated on Sep 12, 2014 12:45 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
J-K floods: Anger grows as govt goes missing, victims left on their own
Rescuers struggled on Thursday to reach the people still trapped in Kashmir a week after the state’s worst flooding in 60 years as anger mounted over what many described as the collapse of the administration.
Updated on Sep 12, 2014 10:40 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Tarun Upadhyay and Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
As floods waters recede, fear of disease outbreak grows in J-K
The floodwater may be slowly receding in Srinagar but that doesn’t bring much relief to state authorities who are bracing for what is most likely to come next: the spread of water-borne diseases.
Updated on Sep 11, 2014 12:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Army struggles to drop relief, as people clamour for rescue
Between relief and rescue, people want rescue. After sorties in air force choppers, one finds that people can’t wait for the army to drop supplies, as they first jostle to get into the helicopter. Sorties could not land, so relief is being hampered.
Updated on Sep 11, 2014 11:11 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar/ganderbal (on Board Mi-17)
After the floods, fear of disease grows
The floodwaters may be slowly receding in Srinagar but that doesn’t bring much relief to state authorities who are bracing for what is most likely to come next: the spread of water-borne diseases.
Updated on Sep 11, 2014 01:03 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Anger rises in flood-affected J-K as victims attack rescuers
Flood waters are receding in Kashmir but anger and resentment are mounting over what is being seen as a slow rescue and relief effort, as hundreds of thousands of people are still stranded.
Updated on Sep 11, 2014 08:09 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
Water recedes, but 4 lakh still stuck in Kashmir
Flood waters started receding in Kashmir on Tuesday but hundreds of thousands were still waiting to be rescued, many stuck on rooftops for days with little or no food and clean water.
Updated on Sep 10, 2014 10:48 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Srinagar
State to use SSA funds for Modi’s speech
It may have failed to utilise the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds to improve standard of its government schools through provision of additional drinking water, trained teachers, toilets and classrooms.
Updated on Sep 05, 2014 08:40 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
‘Nursing’ foreign dreams, Punjabi men fund contract bride’s courses, visa
Like its neighbour Haryana, brides in Punjab too are now coming for a price, albeit as ‘passport’ to foreign lands. Punjab, a state with poor sex ratio and female literacy figures unlike Kerala, is also increasingly taking the nursing route to foreign shores.
Updated on Sep 04, 2014 06:59 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Moga/barnala
Wary of crediting Capt with more sway, Bajwa blames it on rigging
His political fortunes slipping with every election, beleaguered Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa is caught between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea.
Updated on Aug 29, 2014 08:22 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
Hooda on sop spree, Punjab advises caution
Haryana is beating neighbour Punjab in the populism game as it goes to the polls later this year. Competing with the largesse of the Parkash Singh Badal regime in Punjab, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has recently announced a double bonanza for state employees pay scales and pension on a par with Punjab and a whopping 25% hike in dearness allowance (DA).
Updated on Aug 27, 2014 11:16 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh
The return of Punjab to bipolar politics
The verdict in the two bypolls, one each in a bastion of the Congress and the ruling Shriomani Akali Dal (SAD), may not have any surprises but it has helped both break own jinxes.
Updated on Aug 26, 2014 06:05 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Sukhdeep Kaur, Chandigarh