R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Membership drive: The pre-membership drive of the District Youth Congress commenced on Tuesday. “This time the Youth Congress would also elect their representatives for booth-level committees as per the vision of Rahul Gandhi, president, All India Youth Congress (AIYC), besides electing their representatives for Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha and state committees,” said Vikas Upadhaya and Deepika Pandey, general secretary and secretary, AIYC, respectively. The membership drive would go on till May 20.

Hoshiarpur
62-yr-old woman raped in forest: A 62-year-old woman was allegedly raped in the Bhatoli forest area on May 4. A case was, however, reported at Garhshankar police station on Monday evening. According to police sources, the victim, resident of Kakroli village, stated to the police that on May 4 at about 6 pm she was grazing her animals in the forest area of Bhatoli. Balwinder, alias Bindu, resident of Bhatoli, came there and took her to the nearby bushes, where he raped her. After raping her, he warned her that if she told about the incident to anyone, he would kill her son Kuldip Singh.

Woman kills self: A young woman, fed up by the alleged torture and beating by the drunkard husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, committed suicide by setting herself ablaze at Bagora village on Monday evening. According to police sources, Sita Devi, mother of the deceased, Kamaljit Kaur, stated that her daughter was married with Surinder Pal of Bagora village. Surinder Pal was a habitual drunkard and Kamaljit Kaur used to oppose his habit. On her opposing, Surinder Pal, mother-in-law Simro and sister-in-law Nikki used to beat and torture her. Fed up by this, Kamaljit Kaur sprinkled kerosene on her clothes and set herself on fire last evening. The Mahilpur police has booked husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law of the deceased under Sections 306 and 120-B of the IPC and arrested Surinder Pal. The other two are still at large.

Nakodar
Dowry torture: Kuldip allegedly beat up his wife Rinku for dowry at Punia village here in Shahkot. Rinku alleged her husband and sister-in-law Manjit used to torture her for dowry since the marriage. Though she brought cash from her parents, his hunger for dowry saw no end, Rinku alleged. The police has started an investigation.

Nawanshahr
92 POs held: Dr Narindr Bhargav, SSP, while addressing mediapersons here, said the district police had nabbed 92 proclaimed offenders (POs) in the first four months of this year, out of which 39 were arrested in April. Giving details of some of the cases, Bhargav said proclaimed offender Didar Singh, alias Didar, of Hiyatpur Rurki, who had been wanted in the Jarnail Singh murder case, registered in April, 2001, was arrested. Nazar Singh of Mandali village, wanted in the case of kidnapping a minor girl, registered at Behram police station in June 2001, Harjinder Singh of Malpur Arkan village, wanted in a case of assaulting Resham Singh of the same village, registered at Sadar police station in 2008, and Narinder Kumar of Jalandhar district, wanted in the case of snatching mobile phone, passport and driving licence, etc, from Amarjit Singh, registered at city police station in September 2003, had been arrested and presented in the court.

Patiala
Blood donation: The Patiala branch of the Indian Medical Association organised a blood donation camp at Government Medical College. Dr KD Singh, principal of the college, was the chief guest. According to Dr DS Bhullar, media in charge, IMA, the camp was organised in collaboration with the Lions Club Patiala Premium, Society for Peoples’ Welfare and Awareness and Cancer-AIDS Awareness and Prevention Society.

Tarn Taran
Casteist remarks: Five persons have been booked for making casteist remarks against Baldev Singh, sarpanch of Kherdeenke village, 20 kms from here. The Chabal police has registered a case under Sections 295, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, Section 3 of the SC/ST Act in this regards.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Meeting: Ram Niwas, Home Secretary-cum-secretary, Social Welfare, convened a meeting regarding construction and management of night shelters with an aim to set up shelters for urban homeless with appropriate facilities. A Scheme for Construction and Management of Night Shelters has been finalised and will be forwarded to the Government of India for approval through the finance department for funds. Building details of the proposed night shelters in Sector 52 and Ram Darbar, Phase-II, were also finalised during the meeting.

HARYANA

SONEPAT
Body identified: The torso of a youth, which was seized by the police while it was being set on fire in the cremation ground near the local temple on Monday, was identified as that of Jitender (28), whose father Balbir, Sub-Inspector, is posted in the local Police Lines here. The body has been sent to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for a postmortem and the police has recovered one of the legs from the premises of a gas agency godown here on the Kakroi road. A murder case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SOLAN
Oil tanker, shop  catch fire: Seven vehicles were burnt and a shop partially charred when an oil tanker (HP 69-7556) going towards Bilaspur suddenly caught fire at Baner village on the Swarghat-Bilaspur road at 3 pm on Tuesday. The vehicles charred were a pick-up utility vehicle, two trucks, three scooters and the oil tanker. Tanker driver Vinod Kumar, who was seriously injured, has been referred to Tanda Medical College. The fire was extinguished with the help of a fire tender from Nalagarh.

DEHRADUN

NAINITAL
Alva reviews works: State Governor Margaret Alva reviewed various works being done at Raj Bhawan here on Tuesday and ordered that works be done as per norms within the specified timeframe. Alva personally inspected the Golf Club, fencing work on the Raj Bhawan premises, rainwater harvesting, a swimming pool and restoration works at the main building. She also took stock of preparations for the forthcoming Raj Bhawan Golf Tournament that is slated to start on May 27.

Kumaon Briefs
Women carry patient in palanquin to road: Women of Tusreda village in Bageshwar carried a female patient in a palanquin to a road 6 km away from their village from where the patient was taken to a hospital in a vehicle. On Saturday night, when all men of the village had gone to attend a wedding, 22-year-old Kavita complained of stomachache. With no medical aid available in the village, the incident is a pointer to the plight of rural women.

Loan to farmers: District Magistrate, Nainital, Shailesh Bagauli has urged banking institutions to come forward for offering loans to farmers for developing poly houses. He said at least five villages should be developed as model villages for the purpose. At a meeting of the District Review and Coordination Committee here on Tuesday, Bagauli asked the District Horticulture Officer to prepare a project within a week in this regard.

One killed in mishap: One person was killed when the car he was travelling in overturned after colliding with a divider on the Nainital road. The deceased, Prakash Pathak, was returning after attending a wedding in Ranikhet. He was a resident of Shantipuri locality of Pantnagar.

Painting competition: The New Club, Nainital, will organise a painting competition for children of various schools on May 15. The competition would be organised on premises of the club and participants would be divided into two categories. Secretary of the club KB Melkani said students from various schools were expected to participate in the event.

Salary payment stopped: District Magistrate, Bageshwar, CS Napalchayal has ordered to stop the payment of salaries to employees of the mobile unit of the Horticulture Department as they were found absent from duty during a surprise check. Napalchayal has also recommended departmental action against the erring officials. He has also expressed his displeasure at the slow pace of work with regards to the construction of a new tehsil office, cabins and residential facilities in Kanda area of the district.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)