R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
24 ITI students hurt as van overturns: As many as 24 students of the local Industrial Training Institute sustained injuries as a private vehicle that had given them a lift overturned on Monday. As per information, the students had to request the driver of the private vehicle for a lift to reach the town as none of the buses stopped to ferry them after the study hours. The van reportedly overturned while averting head-on collision with a tractor trailer.

Bathinda
Max hospital opens in Bathinda: At the inaugural ceremony of the 200-bedded Super Speciality Hospital, set up by Max Healthcare Institute Limited, especially for the cancer and cardiac diseases, on the premises of Civil Hospital here, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal could not hide his emotions when he termed the occasion as an “historical” and “golden event” not only for Bathinda but for the entire state. 

Students visit Science city : Students of the Harbhajan Institute of Competitions, Bathinda, went on an educational tour to the the Science City in Jalandhar. Teachers Shweta and Ankush accompanied the students. Harbhajan Singh, managing director of the institute, said the tour proved helpful for the students in learning innovations and research achievements in science and technology. They saw the latest techniques and learnt the principles of science in a practical way. “This has really been a wonderful experience for us,” the students said.

IBM hires 22 students: IBM Global held campus  placement drive at the Baba Farid Group of Institutions in Bathinda for hiring the final year students from BBA, B Com and BCA on Monday. The IBM team members and Meenakshi Khanna and Ketan Bansal visited the campus for recruitment process. Presentation was delivered followed by written test and the final HR round. A total of 22 students were selected during the placement drive. “All the students who were shortlisted received the offer letters,”claimed the college spokesperson. The principal of the institute  congratulated the students and wished them all success in life for their future endeavours. The students are hopeful of a successful career  ahead.

Faridkot
26 held guilty in murder case : Three years after two groups fought with fire weapons over the possession of 14 acres of agriculture land in Machaki Mal Singh village of Faridkot, the court of District and Session Judge on Monday convicted all 26 persons from both groups. Bikar Singh, a farmer and a member of one of these groups, was shot dead during this fight. 

Jalandhar
Seminar on defence communication: The Indian Army, in association with the Confederation of Indian industry (CII), is organising a Defence Communication Seminar (DEFCOM 2011) on November 2 & 3 at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantt. As a forerunner, a brochure-containing schedule of events of DEFCOM 2011 was released today at a ceremony held at New Delhi.

HARYANA

Faridabad
Youth shot dead, assailant in coma: A person opened fire on a youth, Amit Kumar, in the Dabua colony here on Sunday, leading to his death on Monday. The assailant, Balbir Singh, was challenged by residents of the colony after the firing incident and they caught hold of him and thrashed him. On account of the alleged assault by the residents, Balbir Singh went into a coma in hospital. 

Jhajjar
2 engineering students killed: Two students, who were pursuing an engineering course at the PDM Institute of Engineering, were killed while another student, who had recently been selected for Merchant Navy, was seriously injured when their car rammed into a truck in Bahadurgarh town on Monday. The deceased have been identified as Sumit Dalal and Rahul Nagar. Ajay Chaudhary was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi where his condition is stated to be critical. 

Rewari
Pensioners block traffic: Irate pensioners of Peethrawas village, near here, on Monday blocked traffic on the Rewari-Narnaul road that resulted in long queues of vehicles on either side of the road . They complained while pension had not been disbursed among them for the past six months, things had gone worse after pension distribution work was assigned to a private company. 

Sirsa
481 bags of DAP fertiliser seized: The agriculture authorities have seized 481 bags of DAP fertiliser, which was stored in a godown near the telephone exchange at Kalanwali in the district on Sunday. The authorities sealed the store after activists of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha alleged hoarding of fertiliser by the trader. The police said a case under Section 420 of the IPC and various provisions of the Essential Commodities Act has been registered against the trader, Satpal. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Man dies of wasp bites: Rama Nand Sharma (65) of Jaral-Lalmati village under Kooh Manjhwaad, near here, was suddenly attacked by wild forest wasps and fell unconscious. He was rushed first to the local Primary Heath Centre, then to the Regional Hospital here and finally to the IGMC, Shimla, on Sunday night. But he died there. Village elders have all urged the district administration to give financial help to his family. 

One dies in road accident: Vishal of Ghaniyaar village was killed on the spot and his pillion rider Sahil of Mekhwin village was injured seriously when their bike hit a speeding jeep coming from the opposite direction near Berry Mian village, 30 km from here, on Sunday evening. Sahil was rushed to the Regional Hospital here and his condition was serious. The driver of jeep fled from the scene and a case has been registered against him. The jeep has been seized by police.

HAMIRPUR
Talk on radio announcing held: The Casual Announcers and Comperes Federation held its annual function Safarnama here on Monday. A talk on topic “The art of radio announcing” was held on the occasion in which chief programme officer, AIR, Hamirpur station, Raj Kumar Sharma was the chief guest. Sharma said the introduction of FM Radio, Hamirpur, had attracted a large number of listeners. Programme executive Ashwani Kumar and president of the federation Sanjay Sharma also spoke on the occasion. 

SHIMLA
ARTRAC Raising Day on Oct 1: The Army Training Command (ARTRAC) here will celebrate its 21st Raising Day on October 1. The main highlight of the celebrations will be the musical evening by the Army Symphony Band to be organised on the Ridge on October 2. 

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
CPM protest tomorrow: The CPM will hold a protest in front of the Vidhan Sabha on September 28 on several issues of public concern. Surender Singh Sajvan, district secretary of the state unit of the party, said their main demands included providing ownership right to landless villagers and residents of slum colonies, including 40 per cent of the city and village residents in the category of the poor, beneficial rates to farmers for their crops, the implementation of labour laws in the industry and withdrawal of false cases registered against the members of the party. 

Kumaon Briefs

Tempo driver shot at: Miscreants allegedly opened fire on a tempo driver at Pantnagar in Udham Singh Nagar district on Sunday evening. The driver, Harpal Singh (50) of Rudrapur, has sustained head and face injuries. On late Sunday evening, a youth hired the tempo from DD Chowk in Rudrapur and asked the driver to take him to the industrial zone near Pantnagar. Later, two others also joined him. When they reached an isolated spot, they allegedly opened fire on him. According to sources, Harpal had a spat with two persons on September 21. This attack is being presumed to be an outcome of that spat. Investigations are on in the matter.

Cash, jewellery stolen: Thieves broke into a house in Khupa village of Nainital district on late Saturday night. Interestingly, they took away a big almirah lying in the house. According to the owner of the house, Rattan Singh, there were Rs 5,000 in cash and jewellery worth Rs 35,000 in it. Later, the almirah was found lying in a nullah by some milk vendors of the area.

Tournament participant dies: A tourist from Surat, who had come to participate in a tournament in Nainital, died of a heart attack. The victim, KS Desai (70), had come to Nainital a few days ago to participate in the All-India GM Memorial Bridge Tournament being held at Boat House Club. He was staying in a private hotel on Mall Road, where he was found lying in an unconscious state. He was taken to BD Pande Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Villagers end relay fast: A group of agitating villagers in Champawat district have ended their relay fast following an assurance given by the local administration to address their concern regarding the construction of a road. The villagers had been observing the fast since September 22 in support of their demand for the construction of a road from Salna to Government Inter-college at Gangol via Kanakot. They said due to no connectivity to the inter-college, teachers were not willing to come there for duty and this has been having an adverse impact on education. The administration has assured that a survey regarding the construction of the road would be carried out soon.

Three held for smuggling: The Kaladhungi police has arrested three persons on a charge of smuggling liquor into Uttarakhand. They have been identified as Khajan Singh, Ganesh Singh and Ranjeet Singh. They are residents of the Bazpur area of Udham Singh Nagar district. They were nabbed separately. The police has also seized 154 pouches of countrymade liquor from their possession.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)