R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Patiala
Meeting of ex-servicemen: A meeting of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Committee was held at the Baradari Gardens here under the chairmanship of Sergeant Nath Ram Mattoo (retd) on Monday. He said the committee would hold a state-level meeting at the Prabhat Parwana Hall here on May 15 to discuss various problems being faced by ex-servicemen.

CHANDIGARH

Medical camp:Chandigarh Over 25 patients were diagnosed and given consultation at free consultation and check-up camp at the Life Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre, Sector 19, here yesterday. Dr Nikhil Roshan and Dr Neil Arun conducted the camp. The patients were suffering from acute problems of cervical spondylitis, osteo arthritis and post fracture stiffness. They were given latest specialised treatment of taping therapy.

Akhand path: The Mohali Police Control Room (PCR) organised an akhand path at its office in Phase I. The employees of the PCR also organised a community kitchen. Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar and SP Harpreet Singh (City) were also present.

HARYANA

Ambala
Campaign against child labour: The Emax Group of Institutions organised a series of activities to generate awareness against child labour on the International Labour Day on Sunday. A team of students and faculty members visited several places near the college where children were working as labourers. The management said everyone should take a pledge to help at least one child worker on this day. 

Hisar
Life term for six: A court on Monday sentenced six persons to life imprisonment for murdering two persons in Salemgarh village about four years ago. Additional district and sessions judge Baljit Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 10000 each on finding them guilty of killing Anil and Vinod on July 7, 2007. The six sentenced to life imprisonment are Shishpal, Tek Chand, Ramesh, Lalit, Subhash and Kuljeet Singh, alias Baru Ram. The judge acquitted Umed Singh and Dharambir, residents of Salemgarh, for lack of evidence.

REWARI
Rs 6 lakh looted: Two motorcycle-borne armed miscreants looted a moneybag containing Rs 6 lakh from a commission agent, Om Prakash Bansal, in front of his shop in the grain market at Kosli on Monday. When the trader tried to resist the attempt, the miscreants opened fire. The trader had a narrow escape, though he was injured in the incident. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DALHOUSIE
Driver killed in road mishap: One person was killed on the spot and another injured when a Bolero in which they were travelling swerved off the road and fell into about 150-metre-deep gorge near Nainikhud, about 20 km from here, on Sunday night, according to a report received here on Monday. The deceased had been identified as driver of the vehicle Ravinder Kumar, a resident of Jalandhar, while the injured Sanjay Kumar, resident of Khaira tehsil, Palampur, brought to the Civil Hospital, Dalhousie. 

KALA AMB
Job fest for  students today: To provide jobs at the doorstep the Himalayan Group of Professional Institutes, Kala Amb is organising a one-day job fest at their campus on Tuesday. Stating this institute Chairman Rajnish Bansal said companies like Wipro, IFFCO, Reliance Communication, Woodland, HDFC Bank, DLF and Volkswagen would participate in the mega event which would offer job opportunities to MBA, MCA, B Tech, polytechnic etc passed students. 

KANGRA
Boy killed in accident: Fifteen-year-old Vishal Gulati was killed on the spot and two others were injured when a tractor with thrasher machine overturned at Merwan village and rolled down into a 20-foot-deep gorge in the wee hours of Monday morning. This was stated by Kangra district police chief Daljeet Singh Thakur said here. Dinesh Kumar and Raj Kumar of Daghwar, driver and owner of the tractor were injured in the accident. The police has registered a case.

KULLU
Two held, 5 kg charas seized: Two persons were arrested and about 5 kg charas was recovered from their possession in this district. Suraj Prakash, an advocate and resident of Panchrukhia in Patna, Bihar, presently residing in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, was nabbed at Hurlu Dhar near Manikaran and 215 gm charas was recovered from his possession. In another case, Bahadur Singh of Rumaali village in Aani subdivision of this district, has been arrested in a naka at Gugra while he was travelling in a car and 4.500 kg charas was recovered from him.

Ukraine national detained: One Ukraine national Olekshil was detained by the district police at Bhuntar on Sunday night when he was creating a nuisance in a drunken state. The Superintendent of Police here said the foreigner was detained in a tipsy condition, but during a personal search, a 14-inch-long knife and nine khukharis were found in his bag. A case has been registered. 

DEHRADUN

Samajwadi Party to launch stir: The Samajwadi Party held a meeting of its working committee here on Monday. It was chaired by president of the state unit Vinod Barthwal. The party has decided to launch statewide demonstrations on May 12 and hold conventions in all the districts from May 16 to 25 to expose the allegedly anti-people policies of the state government.

Septic tank collapses: A septic tank collapsed at a house in Raipur on Sunday night. Though no loss of life has been reported, the walls of the house suffered damage. 

2 booked under Gangster Act: Two persons were booked under the Gangster Act on Sunday. The duo, Satish Kumar and Vigyan Mishra, both residents of Premnagar, has allegedly been involved in several crimes, including gambling. 

Harak meets agitators: Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Harak Singh Rawat has extended support to the employees of three power corporations who are on indefinite strike. Rawat said, the contractual employees had been demanding the regularisation of their services for the past six years but the Chief Minister seemed least interested in redressing their grievances. He assured them if the Congress came to power in state, their first priority would be to resolve the problems of the youth of the state. 

Kumaon Briefs

Couple killed as truck hits motorcycle:A couple was crushed to death by a truck on the Nainital-Haldwani highway on Sunday evening. The accident occurred when the truck hit the motorcycle from behind on which the couple was proceeding towards Haldwani. The deceased have been identified as 45-year- old Umesh Chandra Joshi and 40-year-old Nirupama of Sukna village in the Danya area of Almora. Joshi was an employee of the Intelligence Bureau and was posted in Rudrapur. The two had sustained head injuries that led to their instant death. The police has taken the truck and its driver into custody.

Labourer’s body found on roadside:The body of a labourer was found on the roadside near Transport Nagar in Lal Kuan on Sunday morning. He had died on Saturday night. The deceased has been identified as 42-year-old Bahadur Lal of Subhash Nagar locality. It is being ascertained whether he had been hit by an unknown vehicle that had caused his death. The police has got the postmortem of the body done and is trying to locate the vehicle that had hit the labourer.

Farmers stage protest:Agitated farmers of the Manila area of Bhikiyasain region resorted to a novel way of protest against the failure of the administration to address the growing menace of stray cattle that is destroying their crops. They loaded hundreds of heads of cattle and brought them to the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and tied them up on the office premises while they themselves staged a dharna on the spot. The farmers are demanding that the annual Mohaan cattle fair be started again. It had been suspended by the administration under pressure from the right wing Hindu groups in 2009.

DM: Implement Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan:The District Magistrate in Udham Singh Nagar, Dr BVRC Purshottam, has asked the officials responsible for the implementation of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan in the district to improve their functioning, so that the scheme does not remain confined to official records. At a meeting held in Rudrapur on Monday, he asked the officials to ensure proper publicity and spread awareness of the scheme. He has also asked the officials to come well prepared for the meetings with proper figures and statistics. Purshottam has ordered that the construction works under the scheme should be executed well in time while not compromising on the quality of work.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)