4 VHP activists hurt in attack by Christian missionaries
Bathinda, March 10
Four activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) received multiple injuries when they were allegedly attacked by a group of Christian missionaries led by a pastor near canal bridge on the Bibiwala-Gobind Pura road of the district this evening.

Exam staff suspended
Chandigarh, March 10
Initiating drastic action to check copying in the class XII examination being conducted by the Punjab School Education Board in the state, the Department of School Education here today ordered the suspension of 17 employees, including 13 teachers, who allegedly allowed, aided and abetted mass copying in the mathematics paper on March 9 at two examination centres in Jalandhar and Sujanpur (Gurdaspur).

Liquor monopoly should be broken: Licensees
Chandigarh, March 10
The Punjab liquor trade needs to be rationalised further by checking monopoly houses from controlling the business. Besides, the wholesale trade should be left to a state-run corporation so as to check serious malpractices, including the evasion of duty.

 

POLITICS

Badal does balancing act
Ludhiana, March 10
The Badal government is in the saddle and the Chief Minister has started giving indications of the things to come. He has been very calculative and cautious in his exercise of allotment of portfolios to his ministers. It goes to his credit that he has not succumbed to pressures from any quarter.

COMMUNITY

Ex-CM smells a rat in MC commissioner’s return
Patiala, March 10
Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today expressed apprehensions about the posting of S.K. Ahluwalia as commissioner of the Patiala municipal corporation.

Irrigation minister visits home constituency
Ferozepore, March 10
Punjab irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon was given a rousing welcome during first visit to his home constituency after assuming the office of a Cabinet minister. Sekhon is the only minister to have retained his portfolio in this Cabinet as he was irrigation minister during the previous SAD-BJP regime also.

Tension in Kanjhla
Sangrur, March 10
There was tension in Kanjhla village, 12 km from here, for some hours today following an altercation between supporters of former Sherpur MLA Gobind Singh Kanjhla and Congress workers in the village. The incident took place when a Congress worker was making an announcement in a vehicle of a “thanks giving” visit to Kanjhla village by Congress MLA from Sherpur Harchand Kaur Ghanauri.

Murder of trader solved
Bathinda, March 10
The district police today solved the murder of Delhi-based trader Ravinder Kumar Singla, which took place under mysterious circumstances in the second week of January while he was making a tour to various towns of Punjab to collect payments from different traders.

Keetu’s confidant ‘murdered’
Barnala, March 10
Mystery shrouds the death of Lakhwinder Singh, a close confidant of former Barnala MLA Malkiat Singh Keetu. Lakhwinder, aged about 49 years, a resident of Thuliwal village about 20 km from here, was serving as an auction recorder in Market Committee, Mehal Kalan.

Student commits suicide
Amritsar, March 10
Kapil Sharma, a student of local polytechnique college and resident of Nurpur (Himachal Pradesh), committed suicide by hanging himself in his rented room in Railway A-block colony here today.

Pulse polio drive plans reviewed
Patiala, March 10
A meeting was held at the office of the civil surgeon to review arrangements for the pulse polio drive, to be held from March 11 to 13.