The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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Abohar
Handwriting competition: Prerna, Ashima, Aditi Singh and Simran Kaur topped in handwriting competition in different categories in Amrit Model Senior Secondary School here on Saturday. Kanu, Rubin, Aryan, Navdeep and Premlata were declared winners in drawing competition whereas Rattan Kumar, Veer Punjab, Damanpreet Singh, Vikramjit Singh and Antra topped in chart making competition.

Office-bearers elected: K.C. Kalra, principal of Amrit Model Senior Secondary School, has been unanimously elected as president of the Senior Citizens Welfare Society here, a press release said. Other office bearers are: T.K. Dutta as senior vice-president, M.D. Miglani as vice- president, S.P. Phutela as general secretary, D.R. Munjal as assistant secretary, Kumdan Lal Juneja as cashier, R.C. Juneja as office secretary, S.K. Dhingra as press secretary and Jagdish Rai Juneja as project in-charge. P.K. Mittal, D.D. Dutta, M.P. Kanodia and B.L. Sikka have been taken as patrons in the executive committee.

Amritsar
Bus stand scuffle leaves 3 injured: Three members of a private bus service received injuries at the local bus stand here on Saturday when the staff members of two bus services (New Deep and Sahova Bus Service) started a fight over the picking of passengers. The New Deep Bus Service reportedly belongs to the Badal family. Many passengers were stranded at the bus stand due to the cancellation of few buses.

DERA BASSI
Brewery catches fire: The Mount Shivalik Brewery, situated on National Highway 22 near village Bankharpur, caught fire on Saturday. Since the brewery deals with large quantity of inflammable material, Dera Bassi fire department also sent an SOS calls to Chandigarh and Mohali fire brigades as well. Luckily, the fire was brought under control within two hours but losses are yet to be ascertained.

Hoshiarpur
Papers rejected: Out of 755 nominations filed in 203 zones of 10 block samitis, 17 papers were rejected on Saturday during scrutiny.

Kharar
Students’ rally: Students participating in the mock Parliament constituted at Government Senior Secondary School, Kharar, held a rally against the use of drugs in the forthcoming zila parishad and panchayat elections, here yesterday. Around 40 students thronged the SDM office complex where nominations were filed. and motivated candidates against the use of drugs in the forthcoming elections.

Nabha
Demand for fire brigade: In the wake of recent incidents of fire, the local Furniture Market Association and saw millers have demanded a fire brigade for the town. They say in case of fire, the town has to depend on Patiala and Mandi Gobindgarh, both 30 km away. SDM Balraj Singh Sekhon said maintaining a fire brigade was a costly affair and it was difficult for the local MC to afford it.

Pathankot
Seminar on drug abuse: State transport minister and local MLA Master Mohan Lal Sharma appealed to girl students of Avalon Girls Senior Secondary School, Pathankot, to work for the eradication of drug abuse. The minister was addressing the students during a seminar on AIDS and drug abuse organised by the Dr Sudeep Memorial Charitable Trust. Gurdaspur civil surgeon R.S. also spoke on the occasion.

SANGRUR
Election observer: T.R. Sarangal, secretary, health, has been appointed observer for the elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions (zila parishads, block panchayat samitis) in the district.

Medicines seized: A team of three drug inspectors, Amit Duggal (Patiala), Kamal Kamboj (Sangrur) and Janak Raj (Mansa), on Saturday raided two medicine stores in Malerkotla and seized tablets, capsules, cough syrups and injections, which may be misused as intoxicants. Kamboj said the team raided the premises of Subhash Medicine Traders and Gulshan Medicines Traders and seized medicines worth Rs 1.45 lakh and Rs 15,000, respectively.

Founder’s day: The 40th founder’s day of local General Gurnam Singh Public School was celebrated on the school campus on Wednesday. Lieut-Gen R.S. Sujlana, AVSM, VSM, GoC 10 Corps, presided over the function and gave away prizes to the students. Principal Kulwinder Singh read out the annual report of the school.

Appointed: Charanjit Singh, head ticket inspector, Dhuri, has been appointed president of the Dhuri branch of the Northern Railways (Men’s) Union by the general secretary of Ambala division of the union, Charanjit Singh Bajwa.

Tarn Taran
IMA office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA): president - Dr Kashmir Singh Soahl; vice-president - Dr Karnail Kaur; secretary - Dr Dinesh Gupta; joint secretary - Dr Gurjit Singh Dhaliwal; organising secretary - Dr G.S. Bhargav; and treasurer - Dr R.D. Singh.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
Appointed: Rakesh Sharma, a resident of Panchkula, has been appointed chairman of the science and technology department of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. Party president Phool Chand Mullana in a letter to Sharma, who is a lawyer, said the party expects that he furthers the cause of science and technology in the modern world.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Workshop on May 4: Indian Medical Association, Haryana unit, in collaboration UNFPA will organise a workshop on the topic ‘Stop sex-selection, doctor can make a difference’ on May 4 at Ambala City. Navraj Sandhu, commissioner health department, will be the chief guest on the occasion. Around 100 doctors from all over the state are expected to attend the workshop.

CHANDIGARH
Wheat arrivals: As many as 47.88 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has arrived in the mandis of Haryana during the current rabi season. While 47.43 lakh MTs has been purchased by the government’s six procuring agencies, only 1 per cent of the total arrival, 44,313 MTs, has been purchased by the traders. Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan on Saturday said last year 33.50 lakh MTs of wheat was purchased at an MSP of Rs 750 per quintal. Besides, a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal was also given to the farmers. This year, farmers were being given Rs 1,000 per quintal for procurement of produce.

REWARI
New school hours: In view of the prevailing heat wave conditions, district magistrate Chander Prakash has ordered that all government as well as private schools in the district would strictly observe the new school timings, 7 am to 1 pm, with immediate effect. The order has been promulgated to save children from sizzling heat. The order will remain in force till May 31.

Two die: A farmer, Randhir Singh (62), of Jant village was reportedly run over by a passenger train coming from Delhi on the Rewari-Delhi railway line near Kumbhawas station on Saturday. The GRP, which held an inquest under Section 174 of the CrPC, disposed it of as a case of accidental death. In another incident, Karambir (22) allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Buroli village on Saturday. His viscera has been dispatched to the forensic science laboratory, Madhuban, for chemical examination.

SONEPAT
Minor raped: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a youth at Kakori village, about 8 km from here, on Friday. The incident occurred when the victim’s parents had gone to the fields for harvesting. The youth, Parvesh, allegedly forced his entry into the house and raped the girl. A complaint has been lodged with the police and a search is on to nab the accused. A medical examination of the girl has confirmed that she was raped.

Cash, jewellery stolen: Some unidentified persons reportedly decamped with Rs 25,000 in cash and jewellery worth several lakhs from a house at Khurampur village, about 20 km from here, on Friday. Investigation revealed that the culprits mixed some sedative substance in the water cooler, which made the occupants of the house unconscious while they were asleep. The police has registered a case against unidentified persons.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Justa appointed BSP general secretary : BSP national general secretary and in charge party affairs in the state Mansingh Manheda declared Surendra Kumar Justa, a retired IAS officer, as the state general secretary of the BSP. A party circular issued here earlier said Justa had been made in charge of Shimla parliamentary constituency.

KANGRA
Inter-school singing contest: Shivalik Foundation, Dharamsala, an NGO, will organise an inter-school singing competition to give an opportunity to youngsters to express their talent. Ragav Guleria, coordinator of the competition, said 120 students from 30 prominent schools of this district with 4 participants from each school would take part in the competition. After two rounds of auditions the great finale would take place on May 24, at Dharamsala for public viewing.

NURPUR
Snag hits telecom services: A sudden technical snag in the C-Dot telephone exchange at Jassur near here on Saturday put as many as 17,000 telephone subscribers of Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions to immense inconvenience. According to information, the C-Dot exchange cater to the telecommunication needs of thousands of subscribers of Nurpur, Jawali, Rehan, Dhemta, Nagrota Surian, Fetehpur, Indora, Damtal and Jassur towns and sudden snag in the exchange threw the whole telecommunication network out of gear for hours. Vijay Sharma, divisional engineer telecom, said the sudden technical snag hit the telephone exchange when routine maintenance was going on. He claimed barring Rehan all telephone exchanges had been restored. The mobile service also remained suspended for sometime during the restoration of the C-Dot exchange.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
MLA falls unconscious: Dr Manohar Lal, member of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was hospitalised after he fell unconscious during a district development board meeting at Kathua district on Saturday. An independent MLA from the Bilawar Assembly constituency, he fell unconscious during the board meeting. He is under observation at the hospital, sources said.

Prohibitory orders issued: O.P. Kalandria, District Magistrate, imposed prohibitory orders in Udhampur district under Section 144 of the CrPC. The order stated that no group or assembly of persons comprising more than four in numbers shall assemble, move or sit on dharna road from the traffic check-post to Salathia chowk falling within municipal limits of the town thereby causing annoyance to the public and hindrance to the traffic plying on the road. The order shall remain in force for 10 days with immediate effect and violators shall be dealt with sternly.

SRINAGAR
Petition against CM dismissed: The HC on Saturday dismissed a writ petition against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad filed by a former general manager of the state forest corporation G.H. Marazi in connection with the forest scam. Dismissing the petition, Justice Hakim Imtiaz Ahmed said the petition was not maintainable.

Website launched: The directorate of school education in the valley launched its website on Saturday. The website (www.dsek.nic.in) provides data on the school system, including the flagship schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), information and communication technology (ICT), mid-day meal for schoolchildren, teacher education and continuous comprehensive evaluation (CEE). G.A. Peer, secretary, school education, said teachers, students, parents and other stake-holders could download data on the working of schools and teaching and training institutions.

Hideout busted: Security forces busted a hideout and recovered a large quantity of grenades and ammunition in Anantnag district on Saturday, a defence spokesman said. Acting on a tip-off, troops of the 50 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation in Zizbal- Shershali area in the district and recovered one under barrel grenade launcher with three grenades, 159 rounds of AK ammunition, three AK magazines, 82 pistol rounds and three rocket projectile guns from the hideout.