R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
FAST THREAT: Lieut-Col Onkar Nath Chopra (retd), a former comrade-in-arms of Capt Amarinder Singh, has informed the Punjab Chief Minister that he would go on fast until death on Independence Day as he had been denied justice by the Revenue Department and police officers posted in this subdivision. Colonel Chopra said he was in distress having lost all the self-cultivated inherited land at Chanankhera village near here, to the land mafia allegedly headed by an SAD activist.

THEFT: Miscreants scaled the boundary wall of a house at Gidderanwali village on the Abohar — Sriganganagar road on Tuesday night and decamped with Rs 50,000 and jewellery. Mr Gursewak Singh Dhillon said the family found that the storeroom had been ransacked by some one. Locks of containers were found broken. The thieves had emptied some briefcases in nearby fields.

STRAY DOGS: The stray dog menace continued to haunt the entire subdivision. A cyclist was admitted to the Civil Hospital after having been attacked by stray dogs in the Azeemgarh locality on the college road here on Tuesday evening. Neither the Health Department nor the Municipal Council had launched any crusade against the stray dogs so far.

Doraha
POSTPONED: A conference on higher education, to be organised by Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union at Extension Library, Ludhiana, on Saturday, has been postponed. Dr Parminder Singh, area secretary, Panjab University, said the conference with Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, as the chief guest, had been postponed due to certain unavoidable reasons. The fresh date, would be announced soon.

Faridkot
NOMINATED: The Punjab Government has nominated Mrs Amritbir Sidhu, Mr Jagjit Singh and Mr Piara Singh, all from this town, as members of the Improvement Trust, Faridkot, for two years with immediate effect. Mrs Sidhu was also performing her duties as the vice-chairperson of the local Nagar Council.

Fatehgarh Sahib
TEEJ CELEBRATED: Teej was celebrated with traditional Punjabi style by the District Red Cross Society at Aam Khas Bagh, Sirhind, on Monday. Thousands of people participated in competitions that organised on the occasion. The festival was inaugurated by Mrs Jaspreet Talwar, Deputy Commissioner, by lighting a lamp, Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Patiala, was the chief guest, while Dr Daisy Walia, head of dance department, Punjabi University, presided over the function.

Hoshiarpur
JATHA MARCH: According to a decision of its central committee, the district unit of the CPM, Hoshiarpur, would organise a jatha march in the district from August 16 to 31. Mr Gurmesh Singh, District Secretary of the CPM, said in a press release here on Wednesday that at least 100 public meetings would be organised during the jatha march in the district. Elaborate arrangements had been done to make the march successful. Members of Tehsil Committees of the CPM along with members and leaders of the district would go from door to door to bring the people in the fold of leftist wave.

TEACHERS’ RALLY: Members of the Punjab State Aided and Recognised School Teachers and Other Employees Union of Hoshiarpur district led by Mr Bodh Raj Sharma, Mr Jagjit Singh, their president and general secretary, respectively, staged a protest rally at local DAV Senior Secondary School in support of their demands, including continuation of the pension scheme of employees which was withdrawn from May 31, 50% merger of DA with basic pay and regular release of 95 per cent grants. Principal Guru Dutt Sharma, president, pension cell, criticised the anti-employee policy of state government.

PROHIBITORY ORDERS: Mr D. K. Tiwari, District Magistrate, has reimposed Section 144 CrPC in the district. He has banned the assembly of five or more persons, carrying of fire arms and sharp edged weapons and taking out of processions. These orders will not be applicable to government functions, meetings and conferences. However political parties can hold public meetings, rallies and processions with prior permission of the SDMs of their respective areas. He has also instructed owners of houses to provide information about their tenants to their respective police stations. The District Magistrate has further banned the use of military colour uniforms, jeeps, motorcycles and cars by civilians. He has also banned obscene films and songs in government and private buses.

Jagraon
Motor cycle stolen: A Boxer motor cycle (PB 10-AV-7254) belonging to Sahil Bahadur Gupta of Daba Road, New Shimlapuri, Ludhiana, was stolen from Jodhan Bazar. The Sudhar police has registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC.

Man Murdered: A man was murdered and his body kept concealed by some persons for allegedly stealing jewellery from their house. The police has registered a case. Pritpal Singh, Ajaib Singh, Sukhdip Singh, Randip Singh Rana Kala Khan, all of Chhajjawal, and Jarnail Singh of Hans Kalan allegedly picked up Gurmit Singh of Chhajjawal and kept him in illegal confinement at the residence of Ajaib Singh and allegedly murdered him. The police has arrested four of the accused while Kala Khan and Pritpal Singh are still at large.

Kapurthala
SARPANCH BOOKED: The police booked Mr Karampal Singh Sahbi, Sarpanch of Littan village, under section 336, 337 and 338, of IPC here on Tuesday. Mr Karampal Singh has fired in the air while dancing during a marriage function being held at Maharaja Palace here on Monday night. Out of three rounds fired by him, one hit Mr Ajit Singh, a guest and a resident of Chandigarh.

Ludhiana
I-DAY FUNCTION: The Clock Tower Association will celebrate Independence Day on August 15 by unfurling the national flag at Clock Tower. It will organise a patriotic programme and honour prominent people for their contribution to society.

VISIT: To take the young creative minds on a journey to the creative world of media and technology, representatives of SAE Technology college visited city on Wednesday to promote their animation and games design. The SAE had institutes in 19 countries with 53 state of the art campuses. SAE runs specified courses in the field of audio engineering, animation/games designing and digital film making.

RATION DISTRIBUTION: Shri Gyan Sthal will hold the 96th Ration Distribution programme for needy women on August 14 at 10 amat Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir at Subhani Building Chowk. The function will be presided over by Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal. 701 needy women will be given rations.

HONOURED: Mr Raj Naresh of Bhagat Ford, dealer of Ford Motor Company at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Bhatinda, Patiala and Amritsar, has been selected to join Ford’s ‘President’s Circle’, the only global dealer organisation that represents all eight Ford Motor Company brands.

LAUNCHED: Under its “mother and baby care programme”, Dettol company has announced Rs 10000 educational scholarship to be given to “the best mom for her child”. This activity is being carried out throughout the country, including Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Patiala
BANKERS’ PROTEST: Employees and officers of the State Bank of Patiala observed “All-India Demands Day” by holding gate rallies at different venues here on Wednesday. The bankers were demonstrating against the Central Government’s decision to merge associate banks with the State Bank of India. Mr N.K. Gaur, general secretary of the State Sector Bank Employees Association and Mr Amar Singh, secretary of the Associate Banks Officers Association addressed the rally.

Phagwara
ELECTED: Mr Raman Rikhy was elected general secretary of the District Youth Congress Committee here on Wednesday. Punjab Agro Foods Limited Chairman-cum-MLA Joginder Singh Mann was the chief guest.

Samrala
Lekhak MANCH: The Punjabi Lekhak Manch, Samrala, organised a function here in Government Senior Secondary School in which a Punjabi Short stories collection “ Ghour Sawar,” written by Dr Gulzar Mohammad Goria, was released. Dr Jaswinder Singh of Punjabi University, Patiala, was the a chief guest of the function.

CHANDIGARH

Recommended: The Chandigarh Administration has recommended the name of Ms Amandeep Kaur, a PCS officer, for the post of Director, Social Welfare, from among the names on the panel sent by the Punjab Government, it is learnt. Ms Amandeep is currently posted as SDM, Sangrur. She replaces Ms Madhvi Kataria who has been repatriated to Punjab.

Standardisation: Students of Guru Nanak Khalsa Senior Secondary School were made aware of the importance of standardisation by Ms K.K. Narang, Director, Bureau of Indian Standards. She urged them to become aware consumers.

Donated: Members of the All-India Defence Safai Karamchari Association posted at Chandimandir have contributed Rs 41,000 to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the rehabilitation of people affected by the Tsunami last year. At a ceremony held at Chandimandir on Wednesday, a draft was presented to the Station Commander, Chandimandir, Brig P.R. Sharma, by members for being forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Computer education: At a special meeting of the Panchayat Samiti held here on Wednesday. The Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Mr Didar Singh, said the matter of introducing computer training in rural schools would be taken up with the Education Department. The issue of regularising constructions outside the lal dora and more powers to the Panchayati Raj institutions would also be taken up with the administration.

Saplings planted: NSS units of Government College, Sector 46, organised a tree plantation function on Wednesday. Mr Amitabh Dhillon, SP Traffic, inaugurated the camp by planting a gulmohar sapling in the college. Dr A.N Garg, Principal of the college, also planted a sapling on the occasion. As many as 50 varieties of medicinal plants were planted.

Panchkula
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh Kickboxing Association at its first meeting held here on Wednesday. Chairman — S.K. Verma; president — Sanjeev Chadha; senior vice-president — Prem Pal Gandhi; vice-presidents — Surinder Singh Panwar, Ranjit Bajaj, Sushilta Bakshi; general secretary — Daulat Singh Negi; joint secretaries — Amit Singh, Dalip Singh Negi, Sandeep Malik; treasurer — Rajesh Kumar Kapil and media adviser Vivek Sharma.

Mohali
CAR STOLEN: Car of an employee of the Municipal Council got stolen from outside the office in Phase VII here. Mrs Satwinder Kaur, stenographer, said she had parked the vehicle outside the office in the morning but when she came out in the evening the car was not there. The matter was brought to the notice of the police.

CONDEMNED: Condemning the treatment meted out to leaders of the General Categories Welfare Federation, who were protesting in a peaceful manner at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh, office bearers of the Punjab School Education Board unit of the federation said here on Wednesday that the Constitution had given the citizens the right to protest in a peaceful way.

HARYANA

Ambala
SAFARI DICOR: Tata Motors’ SUV Safari Dicor was launched in Ambala yesterday. Mr Y.P. Das, managing partner, Metro Motors, unveiled Safari Dicor, which is priced between Rs 7.83 lakh and Rs 12.70 lakh, ex-showroom Ambala.

Hisar
REMOTE-SENSING DAY: The Haryana Remote-Sensing Application Centre here will organise a one-day awareness programme on remote-sensing and geographical information systems for students of Classes X and XII to mark the National Remote-Sensing Day on August 12. This day is observed on the birth anniversary of Dr Vikram A.Sarabhai, father of India’s space programme. Children from 35 schools are expected to participate in the programme.

Jhajjar
BRIBE CHARGE: The Bahadurgarh police has caught an assistant officer of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) red-handed while taking bribe in his office on Tuesday. Dharam Prakash and Praveen Chaudhary had applied for re-allotment of a plot in Sector 9. However, the AO of HUDA asked for a bribe of Rs 2200 from them. A team of the police, led by Mr Anil Kumar, DSP, Bahadurgarh, raided his office. The AO was arrested and the amount recovered.

FIVE ARRESTED: The police arrested the remaining five accused in the triple murder case in Kanondi village of the district on Tuesday. Police sources said that the accused, Dheela, Kala, Sandeep, Ajay and Vijay, all residents of Kanonda village, were arrested. Four others had already been arrested when they were fleeing after committing the crime on August 5.

Sonepat
FINANCER HELD: The police on Wednesday arrested Joginder, a financer and resident of Shastri Colony, on the charge of illegal confinement and threatening to kill. Subhash, a rehriwala of Lal Darwaza area. According to a report, Subhash had borrowed some money from the financer some time back but he had failed to return the same on time.

ASSAULT: Two armed youths assaulted a youth Rajnikant with iron rods when he was sitting in his rented house near Gupta Market of Pio Munyari village on the G.T. Road, about 15 km from here, on Wednesday. The youth sustained serious injuries and was admitted to the local Civil Hospital for treatment. The police has registered the case.

ARRESTED: The police on Wednesday arrested a youth, Sanjay, and recovered stolen tyres worth about Rs 8 lakh from his possession. According to a report, the culprit is reported to have fled with a truck loaded with MRF tyres worth about Rs 8 lakh. The loaded truck was sent from Goa to Mayapuri, Delhi, but the truck driver had brought the truck to Bankner (Delhi) instead of Mayapuri.

ATTACKED: Sepoy Pawan of the city police station received head injuries when he was allegedly attacked by Ramesh, alias Kala, and his family members of Katwara village in Rohtak district on Monday evening. Pawan, who had gone to Katwara to serve a police notice to Ramesh in connection with a case registered under Section 379, IPC, at the Gohana police station, has been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Gohana, and reported to be out of danger. A case has been registered at the Sadar police station, Rohtak, against Ramesh, his father, mother and two brothers.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Nahan
DIED: One person, Jeet Singh (50), a resident of Shri Gaon village in Shri Kyari panchayat, about 150 km from here, died at his home after a scuffle with Banshi Ram, a resident of the same village. The police was awaiting post-mortem report to register a case in this regard.

Solan
ONE ARRESTED: The CIA staff unearthed a fake finance company being operated here by arresting Hitesh Kumar Umta from his office located near Sainik Rest House here on Tuesday evening. Three fake stamps, including an accountant of the British High Commissioner’s Delhi office, Block Primary Education Officer and Rural Revenue Officer here. The SP, Mr Gianeshwar Singh, told mediapersons that the police was ascertaining whether the fake documents relating to fake passports were being prepared by the company.