Abohar
Transformer catches fire : The Powercom on Thursday suspended electricity supply in areas located near the railway overbridge (RoB) after a transformer caught fire due to sparking. Shopkeepers on both sides of Hanumangarh Road struggled hard to shift the goods stacked on the roadside. The technical staff doused the flames with sand. The authorities said power supply would be restored soon and the transformer replaced by tomorrow.

Barnala
Rs 2 cr for 23 panchayats:State Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa on Thursday held ‘Sangat darshan’ programmes in Thuliwal and Chhiniwal Kalan villages in Mehal Kalan Assembly constituency in Barnala district. He distributed cheques of grants worth over Rs 2 crore among 23 panchayats for works such as construction of streets, drains, circular roads, cremation grounds, setting up of water works, disposal of dirty water etc.

Chandigarh
BBMB chief gets extension:Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) Chairman AB Agrawal has been given yet another extension by the Punjab Ministry of Power till March 18 next year. Agrawal was appointed the board chairman in March 2010 for a period of three years. His term ended on March 18 this year, following which he was given short-term extensions.

Appointment:The state government has appointed Neeraj Hit Abhilashi Tayal, son of late BJP leader Babu Hit Abhilashi, as a member of the Board of Directors (BoDs) of the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Ltd. (TRANSCO). 

Fatehgarh Sahib
2 arrested with 1-kg opium:The police have arrested two drug peddlers after recovering 1 kg of opium and 37 kg of poppy husk from their possession in two separate incidents. A migrant, Raghu Parshad of Motihari in Bihar, was arrested from Mangarh bypass in Amloh sub-division with 1 kg of poppy. Jagpal Singh alias Bitta of Khanna was arrested with poppy husk during a routine checking of vehicles.

Faridkot
2 jailed for raping minor:The court of District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot, on Thursday sentenced two youths of Pacca village in the district to 10-year rigorous imprisonment for allegedly raping a minor Dalit girl in Kotkapura in July 2011. A woman who helped the youths in kidnapping the girl has been jailed for seven years. An Armyman who was also an accused in the case has been declared a proclaimed offender as the police failed to arrest him in the last over two years.

Hoshiarpur
2 women booked for abetment to suicide:Police today booked two women on a charge of abetting the suicide of a woman of Aima Muglan village in the district. Ram Prakash of Aima Muglan, in his complaint, alleged that accused Kamlesh Rani and Sunita Rani used to harass her wife for having an extra-martial relationship with a man of a nearby village.