The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

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OPINIONS

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BUSINESS

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WORLD

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CHANDIGARH

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
Dead: One Amrik Singh (60) of village 15EE near Padampur collapsed following a chest pain at a gurudwara here on Saturday. A doctor was called in who declared him dead.

Amritsar
200 pilgrims to visit Shree Katasraj in Pak: A group of 200 Hindu pilgrims will be visiting Shree Katasraj in Chakwal, Pakistan, to celebrate Shivratri. The group will board the Samjhauta Express from Attari railway station on March 3. The group will return to Shree Katasraj on March 8 to leave for India on March 10.

Website for NRIs: Concerned over the rise of crime against non-resident Indians (NRIs), including that of land and property grabbing by unscrupulous persons, the district police has launched a new website, www.nriamritsar.com, exclusively for the NRIs so that they can lodge their complaints directly to the police.

SSP honoured: The All-India Human Rights Association (AIHRA), Asia’s first registered human rights and a non-profitable organisation affiliated to the UN, honoured Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, SSP, for his meritorious services at a special function organised here on Sunday. Laxmi Kanta Chawla, minister for health and family welfare, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Barnala
Medical camp: As many as 500 patients suffering from various ailments were checked free of charge at a daylong medical check-up camp organised by the Barnala Welfare Club here on Sunday.

Bathinda
Avneet wins gold: After winning bronze medal at the 11th Asian Shooting Championship held at Kuwait last month, Bathinda girl and ace shooter Avneet Sidhu, has today again made the city proud by winning gold medal at 51st National Shooting Championship, which is ongoing at Ahmedabad. Confirming this, her father Amrit Pal Singh Sidhu, informed, “She has won gold medal in Air Rifle 10m (ISSF) event today.” A product of Dashmesh Girls College at Badal village, Sidhu has also earned herself an Olympic quota for 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Punjabi Sahit Sabha meet: A meeting of Punjabi Sahit Sabha, Bathinda was held at Teachers Home here today, under the chairmanship of president, Gurdev Khokhar. In the meeting, they also congratulated poet Jaswant Deed for getting Bharatiya Sahitya Academy prize for his book ‘Kumandal’ and Late Dalbir Singh for winning the same prize in best translation category.

Car thieves held:The Civil Lines police today nabbed five persons reportedly of a gang of car thieves and recovered two cars and four motorcycles from their possession. Police sources said, thieves were nabbed when they were trying to steal a car as the police had already laid a trap to catch them. Police has arrested Chamkaur Singh, Bheema, Darshan Singh all of Chotiaan village, Amar Deep and Jagsir singh of Saidoke village from the spot.The thieves reportedly confessed that they were having links in other states, where they sell the vehicles. The recovered cars were identified as Esteem car (DL-01-0796) and a Maruti 800 (PB-01B-0828) stolen from Delhi and Bathinda respectively.

Faridkot
Case registered: Vigilance Bureau here on Sunday produced Inderjit Singh Butter, excise and taxation officer, in local court for possessing property more than known source of his income. Inderjit was apprehended on Saturday night and a case was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

PATHANKOT
51 kg of poppy husk seized: The Purana Shalla police recovered 51 kg of poppy husk from a truck (HR-38-E 3838), 30 km from here, on Sunday and arrested Sat Pal of Mukerian of Hoshiarpur district.Lok Nath Angra, SSP, said the police laid a naka near Purana Shalla and stopped a truck from which a plastic bag containing poppy husk was reovered.

PATIALA
Foundation stone laid: Naresh Kaushal, editor, Dainik Tribune, laid the foundation stone of Jan Hit Samiti Bhawan at Raipur village near Bahadurgarh on Sunday. The samiti had constructed the bhawan in order to impart services to rural poor, president of the samiti B.S. Saini disclosed. The bhawan will house a free computer training centre, dispensary and a de-addiction centre. Kaushal said today’s youth was misdirected and people were getting materialistic. However, it was religion that exhorted people to serve humanity, he added. He appealed to everybody to extend their co-operation in this regard.

Magazine released: Chairman of the Punjab State Co-operative Bank Jasjit Singh Bunny released a monthly magazine ‘Gusaian’ on Sunday. Others present on the occasion were Harmel Singh Tohra, Balwinder Singh Siafdipur, senior deputy mayor Anil Bajaj, Ranjit Singh Nikra and Paramjit Singh Pamma.

TARN TARAN
1 kg heroin seized, one held: One kilogram heroin has been seized by the Harike police on Saturday night from a naka at Dhun Dhai Wala village, 25 km from here. Hardev Singh of the same village has been arrested. Tejinder Pal Singh, SP (Operation),said here on Sunday that the accused was on his Bajaj Platinum motor cycle when was signalled to stop by the naka party. The accused had tied the heroin in a cloth to his stomach.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
New Year party: A party was organised by the Sukhmani Group on the premises of Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology on Sunday. Members of institutes like SSIET, IPW, SSCN, and SSIS participated with great enthusiasm in this New Year bash. The events organised included a fancy dress competition for kids, musical chairs, couple dance and tambola etc. The admission brochure for the year 2008 was also released.

Medical camp: A mega medical camp for free check up, concessional diagnosis and tests for cancer and heart ailments was held at Grecian Hospital on Sunday. Over 250 persons attended the camp. The camp started at 9 am in the morning. While blood sugar, blood pressure and ECG tests were done totally free, some poor patients also underwent free TMT and echo tests. A large number of children also underwent check ups and diagnosis at the camp.

Annual function: The 13th annual and prize distribution function was held in Century Public School, Nayagaon, on Sunday. Haryanvi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Kashmiri, folk dance and Gujrati items were presented by the students. Principal Dr. Tarun Vir Saini read the annual report of the school. Chief guest Ujjagar Singh Badali, MLA, announced grant of Rs 1 lakh to the school.

PANCHKULA
Construction begins: The problem of low water pressure will be over within the next couple of months as the construction of a boosting water tank worth Rs 15 lakh commenced in the sector on Saturday. Water from seven tube wells in the sector would be collected in the tank with a capacity of 3 lakh gallons from where it would be boosted to water supply pipes so that people living on the upper floors in the sector also received the water, said Diwan Tarsem Garg, president of Residents’ Welfare Association, Sector 7.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Blood donation camp: Bharat Vikas Parishad organised a blood donation camp at Ambala city on Sunday. Ambala deputy commissioner Mohammad Shayin inaugurated the camp. As many as 92 members donated blood. Rajender Garg donated the blood for the 135th times while Krishan Saini donated 72nd times. The other office-bearer of the parishad Dinesh Kant Jindal and his wife Aaradhana Jindal, Vivek Gupta, his wife Richa Gupta, Sanjay Aggarwal, his wife Priyanka Aggarwal also donated blood.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Inquiry sought: The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) affiliated Koldam Karamchari Sangh on Sunday urged Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to order a high-level judicial inquiry in to the alleged lathicharge on the demonstrating members of the union, allegedly on the directions of a minister on July 27, 2004. The sangh said the police had also thrashed up village women without any provocation whatsoever. The sangh has also urged the Chief Minister to ensure the strict observance of Labour Laws in all power projects.

UCO Bank: UCO Bank has upgraded its extension counter at the Market Committee Complex here in the town to a full-fledged branch on the 65th foundation day of the bank. Bank manager B.K. Sharma said the new branch was inaugurated by market committee chairman Shanker Das Kondal and this would be the second bank branch in Bilaspur and 14th in the district. He said a total of 127 UCO bank branches were presently functioning in the state.

Crushed to death: Raj Kumar, 25, who worked as a tractor driver for Jaisi Ram, a farmer of Talyana village, was crushed under the tractor as the gravel-loaded vehicle overturned. He was killed on the spot. Raj Kumar was transporting gravel from Kutheda to Talyana. The accident occurred near Rangloh chowk at Badi Bharon village on Friday night. A case has been registered. A post-mortem examination was conducted at the Ghumarwin hospital after which the body was handed over to the family. Raj Kumar had been living in the area for the past several years. He belonged to Bagotta village of Bijnore district in UP.

Hamirpur
3 shops gutted: Three shops belonging to Ajay Kumar, Kamlesh and Jagdish Chand were damaged in fire at Bhota Chowk around 2.30 a.m. on Saturday night. Initial estimates put the loss at Rs 16 lakh. The district administration has given an immediate relief of Rs 2,500 each to the victims.

Deputation: A deputation of the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers Association headed by general secretary Jiva Nand Chauhan met Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumla here on Sunday. Congratulating the CM on assuming the reigns of the state the association thanked him for appointing Dr Gian Chand as the new health director.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Jawan injured in landmine blast: An Army jawan was injured in a landmine blast near the Indo-Pak border in Poonch district on Sunday during patrolling along the LoC in Mendhar area. The jawan, identified as Bopinder of 5 Assam unit, stepped on a landmine. He was critically injured in the blast.

MP minister comes calling: Public works and information technology minister, Madhya Pradesh, Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday visited the BJP headquarters and interacted with the state BJP president Ashok Khajuria and other leaders of the party. Khajuria and Vijayvargiya held discussions on the BJP’s victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. They expressed hope that the BJP would also emerge victorious in the state.

Minister conducts inspection: Minister for higher education Gulchain Singh Charak inspected various sections of administrative unit of higher education in mini secretariat here on Friday. Charak asked the officers of the department to work with zest and honesty to live up to the expectations of the people. He said the department has a vital role to enlighten the society by providing quality higher education to the students for producing better human resource and future citizens.

Bhat new BC panel chief: The state government has appointed Justice B.L. Bhat (retd) as chairman of State Commission for Backward Classes. He has been appointed for a period of three years from the date he assumes the charge.

Delegations meet transport minister: Various deputations from Budgam district and far-flung areas of Gurez tehsil on Thursday called on transport minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and apprised him about the problems being confronted by people of their respective areas. The deputations from border area Gurez led by National Conference legislator Nazir Gurezi demanded regular power supply to Gurez and Telail areas besides a regular chopper service from Bandipor to Dawer.

Road funds released: Minister for roads and buildings and mechanical engineering Jugal Kishore on Friday said the Central government has released Rs 217.55 crore under Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana. He said the funds have been released for the execution of 408 schemes of new connectivity with a road length of 2,142 kilometres and upgradation of 12 roads having road length of 37 kilometres.

LeT militant dies: A Lashkar-e-Toiba militant has died after prolonged illness at Seeldhar area of Ramban district, official sources said here on Sunday. Abu Muslim, a self-styled divisional commander of the terrorist outfit, died in the house of a civilian where he had forcibly taken shelter along with other terrorists. The police was informed of the incident by the civilian after militants left his home. The body had been sent for post mortem. Abu was responsible for terrorist activities in Doda and Udhampur, sources added.

Teenager killed: A teenager was killed when a gun accidentally went off in a village of Udhampur district, official sources said on Sunday. Some children were playing in a house when a gun hanging from a wall fell on the ground and went off on Saturday. The bullet pierced through the chest of 13-year-old Ghar Singh and splinters hit 9-year-old Surjeet Singh. Both of them were rushed to a hospital where Ghar Singh succumbed to injuries.