R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
CONTESTS HELD: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) organised declamation and poster-making contests at Police Public School here on Friday to create awareness among students about conservation of oil. Later students of the school held a procession in the city about oil conservation. Kirandeep Kaur of Police Public School was declared winner in the declamation contest, while Ridhi Kant of Army School got the second position. Harsh Mittal and Prachi Thakur of DAV Senior Secondary Public School and Police Public School, respectively, got the third position. In the poster-making competition the first, second and third positions were secured by students of St. Joseph Convent School, St. Xavier High School and Police Public School, respectively.

FARMER KILLED: Residents of Dhallewala village killed a stray bull that had attacked and killed a farmer on Friday. As per information the bull along with other stray animals, was roaming in the area for the past many days. When farmers tried to chase the cattle away, they turned hostile. The killed farmer, Karnail Singh, was in his fields when he was attacked.

NSS CAMP: Fifty students of the local B.Ed. college participated in a one-day NSS camp held on the college premises. Dr Jagroop Singh, Principal of the college, said that the NSS was started with the motive to encourage students to do community service. The students were delivered lecturers on AIDS awareness, safe blood transfusion and eye donation on the occasion.

PSEB FOUNDATION DAY: Mr Sharat Chandra Mahajan, General Manager, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, led the employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in celebrating the foundation day of the board. Sweets were distributed amongst the employees on the occasion. Mr Mahajan, in his address to the employees, urged them to improve the customer-satisfaction levels in services.

ROBBERY: Unidentified gunmen struck at a house in the Lal Singh Basti area of the city on Friday night and took away some cash and valuables. Dr Brejilal Gargi said that about seven looters came to his house and took away about 10 tolas of gold, 3 kg of silver and about Rs 15,000. A case under Sections 457/380 and 506 of the IPC has been registered.

DHURI
38 CASES SETTLED: A lok adalat was held under the chairmanship of Mr Majinder Singh, PCS, Additional Civil Judge-cum-Chairman of the Legal Services Authority, in Judicial Complex here on Saturday. As many as 66 cases were presented at the adalat, out of which 38 were settled or disposed of on the spot and an amount of Rs 10,89,773 was awarded to claimants. Mr Manjinder Singh said those having annual income less than Rs 30,000 were eligible for legal aid from the Legal Services Authority free of cost.

HOSHIARPUR
3 CHEMISTS HELD: The police raided three chemist shops in the city on Friday and arrested Narjan Lal of Model Town, Mantej Singh of Dashmesh Nagar and Vikrant Sharma of New Colony. Prohibited medicines were seized. The chemists used to sell scheduled drugs without a prescription. In another case Buta Singh of Hargarh was arrested under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act on the charge of possessing 12 kg of poppy husk. Rakesh Kumar, alias Kesho, and Gurmail Singh, both residents of Mehandipur, were held on a charge of eve-teasing.

JALANDHAR
PIRATED CDs: The police has arrested the owner of a video parlour for possessing pirated CDs and porn video cassettes. This was stated by Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, SSP, in a press note issued here on Saturday. Twenty VCDs of porn movies, 26 pirated video cassettes, one CD writer, one VCD player and four VCRs were seized from the shop and owner of the parlour Vicky Arora of the Green Avenue locality was arrested.

MANSA
ELECTED: Mr Vijay Kumar Singla, a local advocate, has been elected president of the District Bar Association. He defeated Mr Gurdeep Singh Bhimra by five votes.

TWO ARRESTED: Raghbir Singh and Mihan Singh of Bhagatram village of the district have been arrested allegedly for fraudulently getting money under the Shagun Scheme. Ranjit Singh, lambardar of the village, has complained to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K.Ahluwala, in this connection.

PHONE TARIFF: Telephone subscribers, at a meeting held here on Saturday, demanded that the proposal to enforce increased telephone tariff should be dropped otherwise a large number of subscribers would have to get their connections disconnected.

PHAGWARA
MASTER CADRE TEACHERS: The Government Primary and Elementary Education Bachao Struggle Committee comprising seven organisations will stage a dharna and rally outside offices of DEO’s (E) of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar on February 5 and 7, respectively, in protest against alleged violation of October 28 Government orders relating to the appointments of master cadre teachers as heads of elementary schools, committee sources said on Saturday.

CHETNA RALLY: A ‘sakharta chetna’ rally was held at the local Kamla Nehru College for Women. A press note said on Saturday that SDM Pritam Singh flagged off the rally. The Principal of the college, Ms Kusum Verma, was also present.

TARN TARAN
RAPE CASE: A teenaged girl of Khadoor Sahib village was reportedly raped by her neighbour, police sources said here on Saturday. The suspect identified as Mangal Singh, alias Mannu, was arrested.

ONE KILLED: Subbeg Singh of Fatahpur village was killed in a road accident, near Kherdinke village under the Chabal police station, after he was hit by a private bus. A case under Sections 304A, 427 and 279, IPC has been registered and the bus impounded.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CONVOCATION: The exception from the teacher are manifold and multifaceted, said Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, NNAAC, Bangalore, and former Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, on the 49th annual convocation of the local Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, on Sunday. Principal of the college, Dr Asija, conferred 260 B.Ed and M.Ed degrees, to the students.

CONDOLENCE: The Youth Congress condoled the death of astronaut Kalpana Chawla at a meeting here today. Dr Pradeep Chauhan, spokesperson, said Kalpana Chawla was the pride of the country and her death in the Columbia shuttle explosion over Texas was shocking. He said Kalpana Chawla was an example for the youth, particularly for girls. “Her death is a loss to all of us,” he said.

LOOTED: Some miscreants decamped with cash from the cash box of a mazar of Nao Gaja Peer at Ambala Cantt on Saturday. The manager of the mazar, Sharda Devi, loged a complaint.

CASE REGISTERED: A case was registered against Harjit Kaur of Adhoi village, near Ambala Cantt on Sunday under the NDPS Act for being in possession of 4.5 kg of poppy husk.

MEDICAL CAMP: Shri Hanuman Kripa Samiti, Ambala city, organised a free medical camp in NNMD Model School here on Sunday. Medicines were distributed free of cost. A local industrialist, Mr Prem Nath, inaugurated the camp.

BAIL GRANTED: The Additional Sessions Judge, Ambala, Mr BM Bedi, has granted bail to Madan Lal Madia, working at the Food and Civil Supplies Department. He was arrested by the State Vigilance Bureau for taking Rs 2,000 as bribe from an oil depot holder at Ambala Cantt on January 8.

SHAHABAD
VISIT CONCLUDED: A four-member team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council concluded its three-day visit to the Arya Kanya PG Mahavidyalaya, here on Saturday. Presenting the draft report on the institutional accreditation to the Principal of the college, Ms Raman Kanta Sharma, the team was reported to have expressed praise for the academic atmosphere of the college campus.

SIRSA
SENTENCED: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr A.K.Jain, sentenced a youth to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 in a case of attempt to murder. According to the information received here on Saturday, Manphool of Rupana Vishoiyan village of the district had complained to the police alleging that Vishnu of Bhattu village had shot at him.