R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
3 make it to IAS: Gagandeep Gambhir, Rajinder Kaur Dhillon and Rohit Mehra, students of the all-India services pre-examination training centre of Guru Nanak Dev University, have been selected the IAS, informed Dr KS Thind, director of the centre.

Telecom Day: World Telecommunication Day was celebrated on Monday by the Department of Telecom here. Mr GS Daria, General Manager, Telephones (GMT), addressing a press conference, said all Amritsar SSAs had been connected on the optical fibre network. In a waiting list of 13,600 landline connections, a majority of applications were from rural areas. These were being speedily processed, he said.

Blood donation: A blood donation camp was organised by Sri Guru Ramdass Charitable Hospital at the head office of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee here on Monday. A large number of employees and workers of the SGPC participated.

Siti Cable scam: Mr Satya Pal Dang, veteran CPI leader, has sought the release of the status report of the Siti Cable scam from Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. In a letter, he said the CBI had been carrying an investigation in this regard for the last one year. However, it has not come out with any tangible results. He said serious allegations of financial irregularities and corruption were made against the accused.

DC’s order: Mr Raminder Singh, Deputy Commissioner, in an order passed on Monday prohibited the burning of remnants of crops and construction activity within a radius of 1,000 metres around the ammunition depot in Vallah village near here. He said the order would remain in force till May 31. He said it was ordered after receiving the report of burning of remains of crops in the village near ammunition depot.

Training camp: An eight-day youth leadership training camp of girl students of the colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University concluded at University Students Holiday Home at Dalhousie (Himachal Pradesh) on Monday. Ms Wimpi Singh of KRM DAV College, Nakodar, was declared best camper for her allround best performance in the camp while Ms Manupreet Kaur was adjudged second best camper. The teams of SD Arya Mahila College, Dina Nagar, and Mata Ganga Girls College, Tarn Taran, were declared best disciplined teams.

Contractors’ plea: Members of the Punjab Contractors Association on Monday announced to boycott government tenders in view of fall in quarries rate of crushers by 33 per cent in the state. Mr Surinder Pal Singh, its district president, urged the government to review the quarries rate and revise the sanctioned ceiling premium which had not been revised for the past three years. He said contractors in all government departments had also decided not to submit any tenders until their demands were accepted.

Jagraon
Suicide: Thirty-year-old Ram Rai of Kothe Fatehdin committed suicide by jumping into the Akhara Canal. The police, after getting postmortem examination conducted at Civil Hospital, handed over the body to parents of the deceased. He is survived by his wife and two minor daughters.

Jalandhar
Kar seva: The Devi Talaab Temple Management Committee and a large number of social and religious bodies associated with the temple, have decided to initiate kar seva of the holy pond of the historic Devi Talaab Temple in September. Mr Shital Vij, Chairman of the Devi Talaab Temple Management Committee, said the seva would take off from September and a large number of devotees from all over the Northern region of the country were likely to participate in it.

Phagwara
Power shutdown: A six-hour power shutdown today caused a lot of inconvenience to residents of Phagwara. People pleaded that the duration of the weekly power shutdown should be reduced reasonably. Children were the worst hit. And so were the examinees who could not study properly in the sultry heat.

Phillaur
3 killed in mishap: Three occupants of a car, including a child were killed in a road accident near Sutlej river bridge near Phillaur on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as car driver Kuldip Singh, a pedestrian Nabbi Hussain of Jagatpura village in Phillaur subdivision and a child Mehul Gupta (3).

Tarn Taran
Booked: A car driver, Gursahib Singh, has been kidnapped by two youths of Bhaggupur village. The Patti police has registered a case under Sections 364 and 34 of the IPC. The police said on Monday that the case has been registered on the complaint of Mr Gurdarshan Singh, a resident of Patti.

Ex-sarpanch booked: Shinda Singh, a former sarpanch of Jand village, falling under the Valtoha Police Station has been booked under Sections 406 and 409 of the IPC. The police said on Monday that the grants of Rs 2,88,664 are released by the Punjab Government which have been allegedly embezzled by Shinda Singh. The matter had been probed by the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, who instructed the police to lodge a case in this regard.