R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
DEMONSTRATION: Employees of Fazilka Central Cooperative Bank and Abohar Primary Agriculture Development Bank held a demonstration here on Tuesday. Mr Rajesh Nain, president, FCCB Employees Union, and Mr Manoj Jakhar, vice-president, PADB Employees Union, criticised the state government for slashing salary and other allowances and its decision to withheld promotions of employees. Opposing the recommendations of the Disinvestment Commission, they vowed to struggle against all “anti-employees policies” of the government

AMRITSAR
EYE CAMP: The Amritsar medical and Eye Relief Society is holding an eye camp at Soian Kalan village, Fatehgarh Churian, on Sunday. Medicines will be given free of cost to patients during the camp.

FAZILKA
YOUTH DIES: Balbir Singh (24) of Shahtirwala village died due to insecticide spray poisoning on Monday. According to information, Balbir Singh fainted while spraying insecticides in his field. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where he died.

MAN INJURED: Gurdev Singh (23) of Chuhriwala Chisti village was injured in a mine blast on Tuesday. According to reports, he entered the field to harvest wheat crop. However, a mine blasted causing injuries to his right foot. This is the second such incident in the village. 

HOSHIARPUR
TRAVEL AGENT HELD: The police has arrested Kamlesh Verma, a travel agent, from his residence in Rohini (Delhi) under Sections 420 and 120 B of the IPC, according to a press note issued by Ms Gurpreet Deo, SSP, here on Monday. Kamlesh Verma took money from people for sending them abroad but neither did he keep his promise nor return the amount. He was produced in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who remanded him in police custody.

KILLED: The driver of an Esteem car was killed and another occupant was seriously injured when the former rammed the vehicle into a truck near the Chak Karam bridge on the Tanda-Dasuya road on Sunday night. The injured person was shifted to DMC, Ludhiana.

SCOOTER STOLEN: The Bajaj Chetak scooter (Pb-07-0527) of Surinder Singh, a resident of Moonak Khurd village, was stolen from Jaja Chowk, Tanda, on Sunday. The Tanda police has registered a case in this connection.

WHISKY SEIZED: The Hariana police arrested Narinder Pal, alias Bhalwan, of Nanda Chaur and seized about 30 litres of whisky from him on Sunday night. In a separate incident, the Sadar police arrested Manjinder Singh of Piplanwala and seized 4 kg of poppy husk from him.

IMA PATRON DEAD: Dr Bal Gopal Goyal, chief patron of the local branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), died at DMC, Ludhiana, on Tuesday. He was 65. He is survived by a son and a daughter. Mr R.C. Dogra, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, MP, Dr Rajinder Sharma, president, IMA branch, Hoshiarpur, and Dr Ajay Bagga, press secretary, PCMS Association, have expressed shock and grief over the demise of Dr Goyal.

KHARAR
YOUTH MISSING: Mrs Gurinder Kaur of Deh Kalan village on Tuesday reported to the police that her son Rajdeep Singh (21) had been missing since June 19. According to her, he left the house to make the payment of electricity bill at 10.30 am but never returned back.

MATRIC RESULT: Mandeep Kaur, a student of Vikram Public High School, has secured first position in the matric examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board in the Kharar sub-division. Four students of the school appeared in the merit list. Out of the 127 students who appeared, 101 secured first division, while 23 secured second division.

CRITICISED: Capt Dharm Pal, president Indian Ex-Servicemen League Ropar, has criticised the policy of restricting the purchase of car through CSD (I) to officers and not allowing it to JCOs and ORs. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, he said it was against the democratic set up, as it amounted to depriving them of their fundamental right.

LUDHIANA
IT RETURNS: As the last date for filing of returns of tax deduction at source, June 30, will be a holiday, the Income Tax Department has acceded to the request of Taxation Bar Association to accept the returns on June 27 and 28 till 5.30 pm. This was stated by Mr Ashok Juneja, president, Mr B.R. Kaushal, general secretary and Mr Lalit Takyar, co-chairman of the Taxation Bar Association here on Tuesday. The office-bearers of the association had met Ms Sudha Sharma, Commissioner of Income Tax (Admn), and apprised her of the fact that as the Income Tax offices were to remain close due to holidays on Saturday and Sunday, thus an extension of time on at least two working days was called for to cope with the rush of those filing IT returns.

DENIAL: The district president of the BJP Mr Harbans Lal Sethi, has refuted the Congress claim that a ward President of the party, Mr Kuldip Sharma, had joined the Congress. In a statement, he said Mr Sharma was no longer a member of the BJP. He was earlier suspended from the primary membership of party as he had contested the civic election as an independent candidate against official Akali Dal nominee.

SELECTED: Punjab Agricultural University, has been selected as one of the 11 Centres for Rs 13.65 crore National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) on “Mechanisation of Experimental Plots.” Under this project, which has been located in the department of Farm Power and Machinery, Punjab Agricultural University will get Rs 1.25 crore from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for a period of two years. The Research Project will be operated by Dr I S Dhaliwal, Professor and Dr H.S. Sidhu, Asstt Engineer in the department who have been nominated as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator, respectively.

MALERKOTLA
FAKE CURRENCY: The police on Tuesday busted a gang involved in the printing of fake currency and arrested three persons in this connection. Counterfeit currency worth Rs 67,100 was seized from them, said DSP Rajbacchan Singh Sandhu. A computer with colour printer, scanner, and other equipment used for printing fake currency were also seized.

SAMRALA
MEETING: A meeting of the Punjab Physical Handicapped Association of Samrala tehsil will be held on June 30 in the office of the BDPO, Samrala, according to Mr Balraj Singh, general secretary, here on Tuesday. The problems of the handicapped will be discussed in detail at the meeting and the Punjab level leaders will address the meeting, he added.

TARN TARAN
BODY FOUND: The Khalra police has found the decomposed body of a 50-year-old person. A complaint has been lodged in this connection under Section 174 of the Cr PC. In another case, the local Sadar police has seized 8 grams of smack from the possession of Jagtar Singh, a resident of Sheron village, and registered a case under the NDPS Act.

HARYANA

AMBALA
MOB TURNS VIOLENT: Adhoya residents pelted the local power house with stones over the lack of power supply on Tuesday. The incident took place at around 10 am when local villagers gathered near the power house in Adhoya, about 30 km from Ambala Cantt, to demand for consistent supply. Apparently, a few persons started throwing stones at the power house. Although none of the electricity personnel got injured in the incident, some damage was caused to the power house.

SEVEN BOOKED: A case has been registered against seven persons for allegedly marrying off a minor girl. The father of the girl told the police that on returning home from a marriage, he found that his 16-year-old daughter had been forcibly taken away by a few persons and subsequently married off.

DEMAND: Different organisations of Ambala Cantt have expressed concern over the “increase in organised crime”. In a statement, Dr N.C. Jain, chairman Citizens Council, Mr R.P. Gupta, president General Merchant Association, Mr Satpal Dhall, Chaura Bazar Association, Mr Bimal Prakash, Municipal Councillor, Mr Ajay Jain and Mr Vishwa Prakash Walia, vice-president of Ambala Cantt Traders Federation have demanded that more PCRs and police personnel be deployed round the clock.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
LOK ADALAT: A lok adalat was held on Saturday which was presided over by Mr Sureshwar Thakur, Additional Sessions Judge II. In all 66 cases, mostly relating to matrimonial matters, civil appeals and motor accident claims, were taken up, of which 18 were settled. In 16 cases relating to motor accident claims, a sum of rs 36,87,000 was awarded as compensation to the claimants.

CRITICISED: The president of the Dharamsala Bar Association, Mr S.K. Soni, has criticised the “high-handedness” of police officials for arresting Mr Peter David, an advocate of Palampur, on the charge of helping a criminal abscond from the local courts. In a statement, Mr Soni alleged that the police sub-inspector responsible for the escape of the culprit was trying to falsely implicate the advocate in the case. Mr Soni has demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.