Bathinda, January 2
One person was killed while three others were injured after a speeding truck crushed them at the Bibiwala chowk, here this evening.According to details available, four members of the family of a jawan of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Suresh Kumar, were travelling on foot, when a speeding truck crushed them.

Eye-witnesses rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital, where a boy, who was identified as the jawan's son, succumbed to his injuries, while the jawan's father, his wife and daughter were under treatment.

The Cantonment police reached the spot and arrested the truck driver and booked him under various sections of the IPC.

The truck was also taken in police custody.

Abohar, January 2
The contingent of the Army School in the Military Station here has been adjudged the best all-rounder in the Annual Training Camp (ATC) of the National Cadet Corps that concluded in the DAV campus here recently. Lt Col KL Bishnoi, commandant of the second Punjab Independent NCC Company informed that 400 cadets including 78 girls from 15 educational institutions had participated in the ATC this time. Principal of the DAV College Dr BB Sharma was the chief guest on the occasion. He gave away the prizes.

Rahul Sharma and Amandeep Singh of the DAV College shared the top positions as the best cadets in the senior division (Boys) while Navjot Kaur of Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women was adjudged the best among senior girls. In the junior division, Saumen and Preeti Raj of the Army School were declared the best cadets. The contingents of the DAV College, Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women and Army School topped in drill in their respective categories. Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women also topped in group dance (senior division) and Army School in group dance (junior division) competition.

The Army School also bagged first prize in kit layout. In group song competition, Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women (Kala Tibba) and Government Senior Secondary School (Abohar) bagged first prize in senior and junior division respectively.

Jagseer Singh and Sandeep Singh of Guru Nanak College topped in the cross country race and declamation (senior division) respectively while Prikshit of SD Senior Secondary School (Fazilka) bagged first prize in the declamation for junior division.

Vikram Singh of Army School, Sukhwant Singh of DAV College and Sunaina of Bhag Singh Hayer College for Women were adjudged the best parade commanders in respective categories. Manpreet Kaur and Ramandeep Kaur of Guru Nanak College shared top position as the best dancers. The cadets were also imparted training in using weapons. 

Sriganganagar, January 2
The rail traffic on the Suratgarh-Bikaner section in Sriganganagar district remained suspended for about two hours as four wagons of a goods train got derailed today in the afternoon.

As per the information, the special goods train was carrying fertiliser in 40 wagons since the district administration had sent SoS (official message) to different manufacturers including the largest producer in the cooperative sector IFFCO.

District Collector Subeer Kumar had spoken to the IFFCO chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar over the phone, who assured that there would be no shortage of urea in the region. The shortage had cropped up due to disruption in the rail traffic by Gurjars during the past few weeks as part of their agitation in support of their demand for reservation. The district administration on Friday had decided to issue permits enabling each farmer to get five bags of urea fertiliser from the sales centres.

Meanwhile, the railways had made arrangements for running special goods trains to deliver fertiliser through the alternate routes. The IFFCO chairman had advised the farmers not to panic as enough stock was available with the manufacturing units.

As the train was about to stop at Suratgarh at about 12.30 pm today, four of its wagons got derailed. The authorities had to halt an incoming passenger train at Pipren, about five kilometers from Suratgarh for about 90 minutes besides giving no-clearance signal to other down trains.

Station superintendent SS Sibbal and traffic in-charge Rajiv Walia, who were assisting the visiting officials, said a crane has been requisitioned from Bikaner to put the derailed wagons on track.

The technical committee from the Divisional Railway office was expected to conduct on-the-spot inquiry after reaching Suratgarh by Monday morning, sources indicated.

Ferozepur, January 2
To strengthen the party base, the SAD has embarked on a membership drive to enroll almost 50,000 members into the fold of the SC wing of the party from each district, revealed Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Welfare, while presiding over a meeting of the SC wing of the party at the historic Gurudwara Jamni Sabih, Vajidpur, around 12 km from the district headquarters here today.

In the meeting, several senior SAD leaders including Baldev Singh Mamujihia and Joginder Singh, besides hundreds of party workers were also present.

Ranike said a state-level function dedicated to Baba Jiwan Singh would be held on January 20, in which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal besides senior SAD leaders would participate. He said in that function, the CM would announce various schemes for the welfare of SC/ST and other backward strata of the society being launched by the state government.

Abohar, January 2
Two persons died in separate mishaps in Abohar. A daily wage earner (25) Naresh Kumar died as he fell down from the roof of a temple that was under construction in Ramdev Nagari here on Sunday.

He was declared dead by the doctors who attended on him when he was shifted to the Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, a resident of Jaswant Nagar, Babbar (16), was crushed to death by an unidentified vehicle that reportedly hit the bicycle which he was using to return home from a shop last night.

The volunteers of an NGO rushed the victim to the Civil Hospital where postmortem was conducted on Sunday. The police sources said the investigation was in progress.