R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Small traders board: Madan Lal Kapoor, president, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, has been appointed as the chairman of the Small Traders Board. “I have been given the status of a cabinet minister and my term would be for three years. It will be a 12-member board which would be linked directly to the Chief Minister. Small traders are facing problems and I would work for their betterment,” Kapoor said. 

Hoshiarpur
Couple dies in accident: A couple died here on Friday when a Safari hit their bicycle near Mona Kalan Maur crossing. The deceased Avtar Kaur and Jarnail Singh were on their way to fields when their vehicle was hit. The accused car driver Buta Singh tried to flee but was caught by the people. A case has been registered. 

Crop gutted: A major fire damaged the standing wheat crop in Khadiala Sanian and Akrowal villages here on Friday. The crop in five acres and 15 kanal was reduced to ashes in the fire which broke out at around 2.15 pm. A fire engine from Hoshiarpur was rushed to control the flames. Short circuit is said to be the reason behind the fire. 

Nawanshahr
Blood donation: The Rotary Club organised a blood donation camp at Rayat Polytechnic College, Tonsa here on Thursday. It was inaugurated by Punjab chief information commissioner Rajan Kashyap and 225 students donated blood on the occasion. 

PATIALA
Gang busted: The Patiala police has nabbed five persons for indulging in various anti-social activities, including theft. Acting on a tip-off, a team led by Kotwali SHO Gurdev Singh Dhaliwal nabbed the offenders - Chandu, Bitu, Rajan, Babu Ram and Rohit, all residents of Patiala, from the old octroi post on Patiala-Rajpura road. The gang had a unique modus operandi. They stole electronic items like TVs, microwaves, DVD players etc and later buried them at a secluded place near the Rajpura road cremation ground. 

Honoured: The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department Pensioners’ Welfare Association honoured Pran Sabharwal, director general of the National Theatre Arts Society, during the felicitation session of their first historic conference held on Friday for his outstanding services towards radio-drama, Punjabi theatre, films and social activities. Punjab excise and taxation commissioner A. Venu Prasad was the chief guest. 

SANGRUR
Privatisation of ITIs: Against the proposed handing over of ITIs to private companies under the Public-Private Partnership scheme in the state, Joint Student Front members and activists of the Punjab Students Union, Students Federation of India (SFI), Punjab Students Federation, Punjab Radical Students Union, All-India Students Association and members of the ITI Employees Union, Punjab, will hold a demonstration against the private companies on April 24 in Chandigarh. State general secretary of the PSU Dharminder Patran said they would burn effigies of government and private companies in front of the office of the Centre of Indian Industries to compel the government to give up the policy of privatisation of the ITIs. 

Tarn Taran
Jagriti yatra arrives: The Guru Manyo Granth Jagriti Yatra, which reached here on Friday morning, 10 hours behind schedule, was given an enthusiastic and religious welcome by thousands of devotees. The devotees were anxious to have a glimpse of the handwritten Bir of Guru Granth Sahib and weapons of Guru Gobind Singh. Harmit Singh Sandhu, MLA, and Baldev Singh SDM, along with other officials, received the yatra. The yatra made a round the city and later left for Khadoor Sahib for which it was received by Baba Sewa Singh, head of the Kar Sewa Samparda. 

ZIRAKPUR
Liquor seized: The Baltana police recovered 300 boxes of country liquor being smuggled from Chandigarh to Panipat on Thursday. The boxes were hidden behind empty crates of milk in a milk plant van. A naka was set up in Baltana and the milk van stopped for checking. As many as 218 boxes were full of half and quarter bottles while 82 boxes contained full bottles of country liquor. Driver Habib, a resident of Panipat, was allegedly smuggling the liquor from Chandigarh to Panipat.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
Eye camp: Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib (C) Eye Institute and Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sohana, in association with Swaraj Engines Ltd organised a free eye check up camp on the company campus as part of Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Retinopathy Project funded by World Diabetes Foundation, Denmark. In all, 451 patients were examined during the two different camps organised at the company’s manufacturing unit in Mohali. 

Symposium: The department of internal medicine, Fortis Hospital, organised a symposium on ‘Good Clinical Practices’ at the hospital auditorium on Friday. Nearly 50 doctors from Fortis and various medical educational institutes of the city including PGIMER and GMCH attended the symposium, which was held in collaboration with the Sanofi Aventis pharmacy group. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
Shop owner robbed: Four muffled robbers looted Rs 13,000 from a grocery shop at Ambala Cantonment around 8 pm on Friday evening at gun point. According to information, the robbers came in a white Sumo. Shop owner Sanjay Pal was sitting in his shop. Two robbers entered the shop and asked him to handover the cash. One of them was armed with a pistol. Senior police officers rushed the spot and cordoned off the area. 

CHANDIGARH
Last date extended: The Haryana Board of School Education has extended the last date for submission of application forms for the entrance test of Diploma in Education (DEd) Urdu from April 15 to April 21. An official spokesman here on Friday said duly filled application forms should be sent by registered post to the board headquarters, Bhiwani, by April 21. The test would be held on May 25. 

Judges’ conclave: The first conclave of judicial officers of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh will be held on April 20 at 10.30 am at Inder Dhanush Auditorium, Sector 5, Panchkula, for evolving a methodology for reducing arrears of court cases and court management. Giving this information here on Friday, the Assistant Registrar (General) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said the conclave would be held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of the High Court Justice Vijender Jain. 

Death mourned: A prayer meeting to mourn the death of Pushpa Anand (83), widely known as “Maa” to her admirers and devotees, was held at Arpana Ashram, Madhuban, near Karnal, on Friday. She died on April 16. “Maa” was the guiding spirit behind the Arpana institutes providing health care and social security to a large number of poor living in rural areas not only around Karnal but also in Himachal and Delhi. 

JHAJJAR
Wheat reduced to ashes: Ripen wheat crop spread over 50 acres was reduced to ashes in the fields of Marot village of the district on Friday when a fire occurred due to short circuit in overhead electricity cables. A spark in the loose wires of electricity reaching to a transformer stationed in the field of a farmer, Hari Prakash, started the fire. The blaze immediately spread to other fields and engulfed crops spread over 50 acres.

KARNAL
Bus accident: Students of a local school had a miraculous escape after the bus carrying them hit an electricity pole in Sadar Bazar here on Friday. Karnal district police chief A.S. Chawla said no one was hurt in the incident. He said the bus driver lost his control over the vehicle while overtaking and rammed into the pole. Fortunately, the live wires did not touch the vehicle. 

KURUKSHETRA
7 held for murder: The district police has arrested seven persons under Sections 302, 148, and 149 of the IPC for allegedly murdering Jaswinder at a bhandara (free kitchen) held during Bala Sundri mela near Shahabad on April 15. The arrested persons have been identified as Praveen Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Rohit, Jatin, Shiv Kumar, Aakaash and Pankaj. The case was registered on the complaint of Sham Lal, father of the deceased. They were produced in a local court here on Friday, which sent them to judicial custody. 

Four arrested: The district police has arrested four persons under the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for allegedly possessing 39.6 kg of poppy husk. The arrested persons have been identified as Karma, alias Karamjeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Jeevan Singh, all residents of New Bus Stand Colony, Barnala. They were produced in a local court, which sent them to judicial custody. 

BEd entrance test: To benefit the in service teachers of Haryana, the entrance test for BEd (2-year) course through distance education for the session 2008-09 will be held on July 20. Confirming this, directorate of distance education (DDE) of Kurukshetra University Dr R.R. Rausaria on Thursday said the last date for receipt of applications was June 16. However, the prospectus would be available for sale on university sale counter from April 21. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Youth Cong to support PTA: The state Youth Congress has come in support of the ongoing confrontation between the PTA and the BJP government in the state arising out of BJP’s vindictive attitude. They resolved to help them in getting justice for regularisation of their services. Youth Congress state vice-president Atul Karota said here on Friday that the Youth Congress would stand by the PTA in the hour of need when the ruling BJP government was going to sack them from their services. He described the government as anti-public and anti-employees. He dared the government to desist from taking any unlawful rash step, which would snatch the livelihood of the poor educated teachers. 

Office-bearers: The posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the Mehla Block Development Committee (BDC) in Chamba district have been captured by the BJP-supported candidates in the elections held on Thursday unanimously. According to authoritative information from the officials of panchayat raj institutions, Indra Devi of Gehra ward reserved for Scheduled Castes had been elected to the post of chairman while Mohan Singh of Bharian ward had been elected to the post of vice-chairman of the BDC. The former Congress-supported candidates had already been removed from these posts through a no-confidence motion mustered by the BJP members about a week ago. 

HAMIRPUR
Ornaments stolen: Gold ornaments weighing around 50 gm have been stolen from the house of Rajani Devi of Tapar village here. The family had been out to attend a religious function at Toani Devi temple when the theft took place. The theft came to light when they returned home on Friday morning. A case has been registered. 

KUMARHATTI
Two sustain burns: Two persons have sustained burn injuries when a gas cylinder exploded at Dakhanumajra, near Baddi, on Thursday evening. The incident took place when Vijay Mishra and Gauri Shanker, the victims, were preparing food for themselves in their rented accommodation. Both hailed from Darbangha in Bihar and were engaged at the industrial units. They were rushed to a hospital at Baddi but were later referred to PGI, Chandigarh, due to their deteriorating condition. Both have sustained 50 per cent burn injuries. 

NAHAN
Body found: The Kala Amb police on Friday recovered a male dead body aged about 60 years from a rain shelter in the industrial area. Local residents informed the police that a dead body was lying in the rain shelter. The police said the deceased had no mark of physical assault on the body. The body had been sent for the post-mortem examination. A case has been registered. 

SHIMLA
Held for abduction: A 20-year-old youth has been arrested for allegedly abducting a 16-year-old girl from a village in the district. Kamlanand was arrested from Shangal village, about 147 km from here, on Thursday. Both the boy and the girl were found in a house in Shangal village following a tip-off by a villager, the police said. The girl’s father had filed a complaint against the boy alleging that he had abducted his daughter. A case has been registered. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Student drowned: A student drowned in Chenab in Akhnoor tehsil on Friday, the police said. The victim, identified as Vishu Deepak, alias Little, was a B.Ed student of National College of Education, Purkhoo. He originally hailed from Padampur in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. A police party rushed to the spot and started rescue operation with the help of locals and traced the body. 

3 deported to PoK: Three citizens of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), who were illegally staying in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district, were deported to their homeland by the Indian authorities on Friday, official sources said. The PoK civilians entered this side of the border after they crossed the Line of Control (LoC) through Chakkan-Da-Bagh on February 25, while they were deported on Thursday evening to PoK after opening of Chakkan-Da-Bagh point at Mendhar. They were traced to the house of one Bashir Ahmed at Sakhi Maidan in Mendhar tehsil. They were identified as Zaib-ul-Nissa and her daughter Zareen-ul-Nissa and Abdul Majeed, all residents of Hajeera in PoK.

SRINAGAR
Varsity-BBC pact: The University of Kashmir and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a two-year project for promoting social affairs reporting in Kashmir. University spokesman Shoukat Shafi said BBC World Service Trust would construct a radio studio at the Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC), equipped with the latest recording and post-production gadgets, which would be used for radio programming.

Girl electrocuted: A girl was killed, while two others suffered burns, in Budgam district of on Friday when a power transmission line snapped and fell on another electric line. Shafiqa Bano was passing underneath the high-voltage transmission line and got electrocuted when it snapped and fell on another electric line in Soibug village. Two others, Siraj-ud-din Banday and Roza Akhtar, received burn injuries. The police has registered a case. 

Darbar move: For smooth movement of vehicles carrying Darbar move officials from, Jammu to Srinagar, the authorities have decided to allow only one-way traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on April 26-27 and May 3-4. The office of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and his cabinet colleagues and other bureaucrats will close at Jammu on April 25 to reopen here on May 5. The authorities have decided to set up medical camps at different places on the highway during these days.