R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
GANG-RAPED: A 20-year-old Christian girl has alleged that she had been gangraped at Munsari village near Bhadra in the Hanumangarh area. According to the victim, she belonged to Basagi village of Ranchi district in Jharkhand. She said on May 1 when she was waiting for a train at New Delhi railway station, Bhupinder Singh and Paaro lured her on the pretext of providing her a job. They took her to Narela in Haryana where she was allegedly raped by Bhupinder Singh. Later, Bhupinder handed her over to Kuldeep who took her to a deserted place in the fields in Munsari village where four other persons raped her. She escaped and reached Ramgarh village and reported the matter to the police. A manhunt has been launched by the police to nab the culprits.

BODY FOUND: The body of a tailor was found from screening chamber of the disposal works maintained by the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board here on Friday. Sanitation workers fished out the body bearing multiple injuries. The victim was identified as Bachan Singh, son of Bahal Singh Mazhai, a resident of Indira Nagri.

Amritsar
PULSE POLIO: As many as 2051 pulse polio booths would be set up in the district to administer polio drops to 5 lakh children aged below five on May 15. This was stated by Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Civil Surgeon, here on Thursday. He said 1265 booths would be installed in rural areas and the remaining 786 booths in urban areas.

STUBBLE burning: Despite a ban by the district administration, it was reported that crop stubble was being burnt in the Guru Nanak Dev University campus and Khalsa College premises. Many villagers were also burning crops remnants after harvesting crops.

ARRESTED: The Ajnala police has arrested five persons, including a woman, for allegedly kidnapping and raping a minor. The mother of the girl, Satto, had alleged that Harjit Kaur, her husband, Satwant Singh, and their son, Shingara Singh, residents of Fatewal village, Mehnga Sigh and Geja Singh, cousin of Shingara Singh, residents of Punga village, lured her daughter into marrying Mehnga Singh and kidnapped her on Tuesday. A case has been registered.

Barnala
COMPUTERISED RESERVATION: The computerised Public Reservation System (PRS) started functioning at the local railway station on Thursday on experimental basis. The railway authorities gave the honour of launching the PRS to Ms Bala, a safai sevika of the railway station. Mr M.R. Khan, Commercial Movement Inspector, Northern Railway, Bathinda, and Mr Manohar Lal, Station Superintendent, local railway station, and other prominent persons were presented on the occasion.

CONDEMNED: Local newsmen condemned threat to Mr Raj Mohinder, a local reporter of Amar Ujala, at its meeting here on Thursday. Mr Mohinder alleged that after appearance of a news item, Mr Chhajju Ram, president of one of faction of the local Beopar Mandal, along with his accomplices threatened him and used rough language. Meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr Buta Singh Chauhan.

Hoshiarpur
COMPUTER LABS: Computer labs have been set up in 120 schools in the district. This was disclosed by Chaudhary Ram Lubhyaia, MLA and Chairman, PSIEC, after laying the foundation stone for a new building of Government Senior Secondary School, Pathiala, 20 km from here, on Thursday.

Nabha
DISTRIBUTED: The Sahara Seva Society distributed uniform cloth among 500 students of 28 schools at a function organised at Rotary Bhavan here on Thursday. Mr Amandip Singh Bhatti, Tehsildar, presided over the function.

Patiala
JES’ COUNCIL: Mr Swaran Lal and Mr Davinder Singh were elected president and general secretary, respectively of the Council of Junior Engineers of the PSEB at a meeting held here on Thursday.

Other office-bearers are: senior vice-president — Mr J.S. Rana, vice-president — Mr S.S. Dhaliwal, secretary — Mr Sarbjit Singh Bedi, finance secretary — Mr Rupinder Kumar, chief organiser — Mr R.K. Choudhury, auditor — Mr Gursaharn Singh and chairman (advisory committee) — Mr P.S. Mundi.

ELECTED: Mr Kaptan Singh and Mr Inderjeet Singh have been elected president and secretary of the DMW Table Tennis Club, respectively. Other office-bearers are: vice president — Mr Nirmal Singh Sidhu; Cashiers — Mr M.C. Saini and Mr L.K Tyagi; press secretaries — Mr Harpeet Singh, Mr Ramesh Chand and Mr Harpal Singh; organising secretary — Mr Prem Singh Rawat; Technical Adviser: Mr V.K Gulati; Executive members are Mr Surya Narain, Mr Karamjit Singh, Mr Narinder Pal Singh, Mr Baldev Chand Sharma and Mr Nanak Singh.

CHANDIGARH

Mohali
Condemned: Some panches of Kumbra village on Friday condemned the husband of the village sarpanch, Mr Gurmukh Singh, for levelling allegations against the OSD to the Punjab Chief Minister, Ms Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha. They said Mr Gurmukh Singh allegedly interfered in the government related works in the village. He had created problems for himself in the village and was levelling baseless allegations against Ms Garcha. 

HARYANA

Bhiwani
CHARGED: Babita, a resident of Dhana Ladanpur village, has charged her husband with beating her up and threatening with dire consequences. In her complaint to the police, she said she was married to Kuldip of Baran Beri village but she had to stay with her parents due to family dispute. She alleged that her husband came to her house on Thursday and forced her to accompany him.

Sonepat
RAPE CASE: The Murthal police has arrested Ajit of Mahra village in connection with the alleged abduction and rape or a six-year-old girl of the same village on Thursday night. The girl was whisked away by the youth and taken to a nearby deserted place where he committed the crime.

DEMONSTRATION: Safai workers held a demonstration in front of the office of the Municipal Council here on Friday in protest against the non-payment of wages and arrears. The agitating employees shouted slogans and sat on dharna. The secretary of the council arrived on the scene and assured them that all their demands would be fulfilled by the council.

CRIMINAL ARRESTED: The Kharkhauda police has arrested hardcore criminal Nirpal of Dehlawala village in Bijnaur district of UP in connection with the looting of a car from its driver Ajay, a resident of Jedsaiya village in Jahanabad of Bihar, on April 23 last. Mr Sukhdev Singh SP, said on Friday that criminal cases like theft, loot, dacoity and rape had been registered against him in UP, Haryana and Delhi.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
STRIKE: Employees of Bilaspur Town Nagar Parishad observed a pen-down and tool-down strike here on Wednesday for not paying salary for the month of April. Mr J.S. Jaswal, Executive Officer of the Nagar Parishad, said here on Thursday that the parishad had not received grant since last quarter of the last financial year. He said the parishad had no funds for paying the salary.

Nahan
KILLED: A 75-year-old Nepalese labourer, Ramesh, was killed due to a fall in a trench at Rajgarh, about 100 km from here, on Thursday. According to the police, the deceased was on way to Shamloh village when he suddenly fell in to a trench near a cooperative bank on Habban road.