The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

Batala
Youth held with pirated CDs: The local CIA staff arrested a youth and seized 102 pirated CDs.The SSP, Dinesh Partap Singh, disclosed that a police party raided a shop at Fatehgarh Churian and seized 102 pirated CDs. Gurdeep Singh, alias Deepa, resident of Dubb village was arrested. A case under sections 51, 52A, 63 and 64 of the Copyright Act was registered against Gurdeep Singh.

Bathinda
Book exhibition at Central varsity from today: In an effort to promote book culture and ensure the reach of books among students, the Central University of Punjab is organising a two-day book exhibition on its campus here from Friday. Prof Gurdial Singh, one of the most celebrated and honoured Punjabi writers and Gian Peeth awardee, will inaugurate the exhibition that is expected to bring together more than 30 leading publishing houses and book suppliers of national repute. It would specifically cater to the interests of college students and teachers. As many as 150 stalls would be set up in the exhibition.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana begins: The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (National Health Insurance Scheme) has begun in Bathinda district. Giving this information here on Thursday, Civil Surgeon Dr Neelam Bajaj said under the scheme, smart cards of the BPL families had been prepared. Till now, 6,160 BPL families had been registered, she added. Dr Bajaj said a member of a smart card holder’s family could get treatment for Rs 30,000 in a year by getting himself or herself admitted to a government or private hospital for treatment.

Arogya 2010 from Feb 12-15: A comprehensive health fair on Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy “Arogya 2010” will be held from February 12 to 15 at local Government Rajindra College. The Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, is organising the fair in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). In the fair, famous medicine manufacturing companies will take part while the doctors will check patients free of cost. Besides, the patients will be provided consultation. Farmers will be provided with knowledge about planting medicinal plants in their fields. All districts of the Malwa region will be involved. The medicine companies will also put up their stalls.

Chandigarh
State-level R-Day function: The state-level Republic Day celebrations will be held at Fatehgarh Sahib, where the Governor of Punjab will unfurl the National Flag and take the salute on January 26. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will unfurl the flag in Ludhiana, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in Amritsar and Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Nirmal Singh Kahlon in Patiala.

Minorities Commission: The Punjab government today constituted the State Minorities Commission with Munawar Masih as its first chairman. Disclosing this here on Thursday, a spokesman of the Chief Minister’s Office said with the setting up the Commission a long-pending demand of the minorities had been fulfilled.

Appointed: The state government on Thursday appointed Vishwnath Singh as the member of newly-constituted Punjab Parvasi Bhalai Board with immediate effect. A spokesman of the Chief Minister’s office said the 7-member board had been constituted under the chairmanship of Ram Charan Yadav to safeguard interests of migrants from other states.

Term extended: The Punjab government on Thursday decided to give a year’s extension to Member, Distribution, of the Punjab State Electricity Board KD Chaudhary. Disclosing this here, a spokesman of the Chief Minister’s Office said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal cleared the file for extending the term of Chaudhary for a year with effect from February 3.

Rajput bhawans: The state government will construct Rajput bhawans in Jalandhar, Bathinda and Patiala in a phased manner for which it will provide land to the community at collector rates. CM Parkash Singh Badal gave an assurance to this effect during a meeting with a 15-member delegation of the Rajput community led by Surjit Singh Garhi and Jathedar Pritam Singh.

Ferozepur
Left protest over price rise: To lodge protest against the rice in prices, the leaders of the CPI and CPM began a hunger strike in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner here today. The hunger strike was led by Darshan Singh and Hari Chand Bahadur.

Four held for drug peddling: In two separate incidents, the Ferozepur police arrested four persons in connection with drug peddling and recovered 3.3 quintals of poppy husk from their possession. Sarabjit Singh, in-charge, CIA staff, said the arrested persons have been identified as Ninder Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Chankaur Singh and Baljit Singh.

Jalandhar
Sub-agents honoured: Airwings Services, an agent of MoneyGram International, honoured its top performing sub-agents here on Wednesday. Harsh Lambah, Regional Director, South Asia, MoneyGram International, who was the guest of honour, rewarded the top performers of the Airwings’ sub-agent network.

Tarn Taran
District Bar Association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local District Bar Association: President - Joginder Singh Bawa; secretary - S.P. Singh Lehri; vice-president - Rakesh Raman Arora; and joint secretary - Kamalpreet Singh.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
BSNL waives installation charges: The BSNL has waived off installation charges for both landline and mobile services. However, the offer is valid for a limited period. Customers now can book landline connections by depositing Rs 250 instead of Rs 500 as instrument charges (for customers who have their own handsets, this amount will be adjusted in the first bill).

MOHALI
NRI alleges harassment: A US-based NRI, Ajit Arora, in a complaint to the Mohali Police has alleged that some persons had encroached upon his land in Dera Bassi. In a representation to the DSP, Dera Bassi, the NRI has stated that after demarcation from the patwari, he started raising a wall around his land. But on January 9, he noticed work on his land had been stopped by a property dealer. The NRI alleged that the miscreants, after conniving with officials, were harassing him. He has sought an inquiry into the matter.

Zirakpur
Bill exemption to continue: The Zirakpur MC has decided not to impose water and sewerage bills on houses equal to or less than 125-sq yd. This decision was taken in the MC meeting. NK Sharma said the council had decided that no water and sewerage bills would be imposed on the residential plots of less than 125-sq yd as they were already exempted by the local government. He said the local bodies department had written a letter to the MC for imposing water and sewerage bills on small plots if it wanted, but the council had decided to exempt these plots of water and sewerage bills.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Elected: Dr Rita Jaspal of Ambala was unanimously elected state president of the IMA, Haryana unit, at a meeting held at Ambala City on Wednesday According to state secretary, Dr VN Sood, a senior doctor of Sirsa Dr Praveen Arora, was elected senior vice-president, while Dr Anil Aggarwal of Ambala Cantonment was elected vice-president of the body.

Narcotics burnt: The police burnt several quintals of narcotics in the SP office complex on Thursday. IG, Ambala, range KK Sindhu and SP, Ambala, Bharti Arora were also present. According to information, the narcotics were recovered from smugglers during the last five years. The narcotics drugs, which were set on fire, include 18 quintals of poppy husk, 61 kg of charas, 2 kg of opium and 186-gm smack.

Process to set up MCs begins: The process for constituting municipal corporations in Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts started today. Commissioner, Ambala Range, Mohinder Kumar had summoned a meeting of senior officers of Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts today in which the deputy commissioners, town and country planners and executive officers of municipal councils were also present. Mohinder Kumar said all three twin cities in the range fulfilled the criteria for a municipal corporation as the population in here exceeded to three lakh each.

Rohtak
Memo to Pranab: The Senior Citizens Council has asked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to exempt senior citizens aged 80 and above from the IT provisions in the coming budget. It has also sought raising of the taxable income limit for other senior citizens to Rs 5 lakh In a memorandum, the council has appealed for relief in view of inflation.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Major fire in forest: A major fire broke out in a forest in Sukhnai village in Kishtwar late last night which damaged many houses. The police said no vehicle to control the fire could reach the area. There was no report of any casualty.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Rispana cleanliness drive: The cleanliness drive of the Rispana river, “Polythene ka tiraskaar, prakarti ko namaskar”, organised by the Devi Bhumi Sansthan entered its fourth day here today. The drive is aimed at cleaning the river and getting rid of the polythene bags in it. The programme was inaugurated by MLA Ganesh Joshi.