R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
Goniana rAIlWAy station renamed: The name of the Goniana railway station has been changed to Goniana Bhai Jagta railway station. Bhai Kanhaiya Sewa Mission, which took up the issue with the state government and the Indian Railways, thanked cabinet ministers Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Chandigarh
MLA for emergency assembly session: Chandigarh: Congress MLA Jagmohan Singh Kang on Wednesday demanded that the government should call an emergency session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in view of the state's financial crisis. In a letter to the Chief Minister, Kang said there was a need to discuss and chalk out a strategy to bail out the state. He claimed the state's debt had reached near Rs 1 lakh crore. "The state is unable to clear its bills, including salary, pensions, retirement benefits etc," he said. Citing the news reports published in The Tribune, he said the state was living beyond its means.

Badal launches mobile labs: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday flagged off the first-of-its-kind mobile science laboratory in rural Punjab. The service, undertaken by a private educational institution, is aimed at teaching physics, chemistry and computer science to rural masses and class XII students. A fleet of 10 buses would be inducted to cover schools within a radius of 10 km from Mohali, Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Patiala.

SAD: UPA govt should quit: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday demanded that the UPA Government should quit for failing to arrest the alarming decline of the rupee. Senior SAD leaders, including Punjab cabinet minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and the Chief Minister's Advisor Maheshinder Singh Grewal, said only the NDA government could restore investor confidence and revive the economy. They alleged that the UPA Government’s policies had fallen flat which is evident from the sagging nation’s economy.

Moga
Youth booked for abducting girl: Six weeks after a minor Dalit girl was kidnapped from Patto Hira Singh village in the district, the police finally registered a case against a youth of the same community. The police is yet to rescue the girl and nab the accused. The girl was abducted on the intervening night of July 15 and 16. The family members of the girl alleged that the police failed to take any action even though they had informed the police about the incident the next day. Swaran Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Nihalsinghwala police station, said that after filing a complaint, the girl's kin later gave a written undertaking not to initiate legal action against the accused as they wanted to sort out the matter amicably.