AMRITSAR
2 fire at BSF jawans: Two men, Pargat Singh and Kaka, were trying to cross over to the Pakistan territory in the Ramdass area falling under Amritsar Rural police district here on Monday when BSF jawans challenged them. Seeing the jawans, they opened fire at them. The jawans who fired at least 10 shots succeeded in arresting Pargat, while Kaka escaped.

Bathinda
Career counselling camp held: The career counselling camp organised by the Aryans Group of Institutes, Chandigarh, for the students of six district of Malwa belt, including Bathinda, Ferozepur, Mansa, Faridkot, Moga and Muktsar concluded at the Citi Hotel in Muktsar on Tuesday. Chairman of the institutes, Anshu Kataria informed that about 367 students participated in the camp and sought guidance about various professional courses available after 10+2 and graduation like MBA, MCA, PGDM, BBA, BCA and B.Sc (IT) among others.

Killed: Ranjit Singh of village Jai Singh wala killed Charanjit Singh of the same village allegedly for not fulfilling his demand for money to buy liquor. The SHO Sangat police station, Davinder Singh, said that in his statement, Meva Singh, father of the deceased, said that Charanjit was demanding money from his son, when he refused to give him the amount, he assaulted him with a lathi causing injuries. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, but on the way, he succumbed to his injuries.After conducting the postmortem, police handed over the body to the family. A case of murder has been registered against Ranjit, but as he too received injuries, he has been admitted to the hospital under the custody of police.

Ferozepur
Best hostel contest: The Ganga Hostel of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology Ferozepur won the ‘The Best Hostel Competition’ by bagging the first award overall in addition to the other awards like Best Common Room, Best TV Room and Best Maintained Lawn. Hostel warden S.K. Kazal received the trophy on behalf of the hostel inmates from Dr A.P. Singh, the acting principal. Singh said the event was directed towards improvement of the college hostels. He added that the event, which was annually organised by the NSS and Eco Club of the college, had come a long way in improving the condition of the college hostels. Earlier, the judges drawn from various departments under the supervision of the Chief Warden inspected all the hostels on the campus and declared the results.

Sangat darshan: Deputy commissioner Megh Raj gave a cheque of Rs 50,000 from the CM’s relief fund to one Rakesh Kumar for treatment of his ailing son at the 72nd sangat darshan programme here on Tuesday. The sangat darshan was attended by ADC Jaskiran Singh and DSP Bahadur Singh among other district officials. In all, 29 complaints were received, out of which nine were settled on the spot and the remaining were sent to the departments concerned. On the occasion, the DC instructed the district social security officer to issue pensions to four widows. He also instructed the Red Cross society to provide financial help to two needy persons for their medical treatment.

GURDASPUR
2 officials suspended: The Punjab Mandi Board has placed two officials, including a district mandi officer (DMO), under suspension for allegedly being hand-in-glove with an inter-state wheat-cotton mafia active in the district. An auction recorder of the department at Pathankot has also been found involved in the scam. Ritu Raj Singh, DMO, and Satish Kumar, secretary, Pathankot Market Committee, have been immediately placed under suspension while departmental action has been initiated against an auction recorder of the committee.

Hoshiarpur
2 held with drugs: The Mahilpur police arrested Sukhjinder Singh, alias Sukhi, on Tuesday and seized 3 kg of poppy husk from him. Similarly, the Hariana police arrested Kashmir Kaur of Denowal Khurd on Monday for possessing 250 gm of smack.

Wheat watch: Wheat procurement in 61 centres of the district is going on smoothly. This was revealed by deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan here on Tuesday. He said 98,603 tonnes of wheat had been procured till April 28.

Forest fire: The forest fire that had been continuing in the Shivalik range of Kandi belt at Kot, Patial and Bahera villages since April 25 has further spread. The areas which were under threat include Malout, Mehngrowal and Ram Tatwali villages. According to official sources, a team headed by forest range officer Paramjit Singh along with local residents was trying its best to control the fire.

4 file nominations: Four candidates filed their nomination papers here on Tuesday for the panchyati raj elections. The nominees were Usha Rani of Khangwari, Tajinder Kaur of Daduwal, Sukhbir Singh and Hans Raj, both from Daduwal.

JALANDHAR
Bhagwad week: A Shrimad Bhagwad week is being celebrated at Mata Vaishno Devi Mandir, Moti Bagh Block B, near Guru Nanak Dev University campus, Ladhewali, here from Wednesday. The programme will be from 3 pm to 7 pm daily. Vinod Brajvasi will deliver discourse.

Former terrorist Kulbira acquitted: A local court on Tuesday acquitted hardcore terrorist Kulbir Singh, alias Kulbira, of Barapind village under Goraya police station of all the charges he was booked under. Additional district and sessions judge B.K. Mehta acquitted the accused due to lack of eyewitnesses. He was booked in a case in 1992 at Phillaur police station in the district under sections 302, 392 and 34 of the IPC and sections 24/27/ 54/59 of the Arms Act. Earlier too, he was let off in two other cases in December 2007 and last month.

KHARAR
Club inaugurated: Intellectual property-cum-science and technology club was inaugurated at Rayat and Bahra Institute of Engineering and Bio Technology, Sahauran, on the eve of World Intellectual Property Rights’ Day here today. Prof S.K. Salwan, vice-chancellor, Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, inaugurated the club. The club aims to further the cause of raising awareness levels of common masses about intellectual rights.

Nawanshahr
Woman held: Acting on a tip-off, the Banga police arrested Manjit Kaur of Mukanpur at a naka put up near Khanpur village on Monday evening. One kg of smack was seized from her possession, said DSP Pushkar Sandhal.

PATIALA
Deposit firearms: Keeping in view the impending elections to block samitis and zila parishads, the district administration has invoked the Arms Act and asked residents to deposit firearms with gun dealers or with their respective police stations. In a notification taken out by the DC D.S. Grewal, residents have been asked to deposit firearms within next 72 hours. The DC in his order has also said any person seeking an exemption should contact the SDM concerned.

Chemists nabbed: A team comprising of officials of the civil surgeon office today raided the premises of two chemists and confiscated illegal drugs. In the first instance, the team raided the unauthorised shop of one Harbhajan Singh in Shanti Nagar and recovered 1,100 bottles of corex and ricodex cough syrups, 70,000 capsules and 1 lakh tablets. The team also raided the Sheranwala Gate residence of Harpal Singh and recovered nearly 5,000 injections of oxytocin.

Board meeting: Malwa Gramin Bank, regional rural bank sponsored by State Bank of Patiala, held its board meeting to declare the financial results of the bank for the year ended March 31. N.K. Bansal, Chairman of Malwa Gramin Bank, said that the bank has recorded impressive growth in the business during the financial year. He said deposits of the bank had increased to Rs 314.28 crore recording a growth of Rs 74.53 crore.

Inaugurated: In order to provide better customer service, V.K. Dhingra, executive director of the UCO bank, inaugurated new premises of the Patiala branch at Chhoti Baradari here today. Mayor Ajitpal Singh Kohli was the chief guest. A.K. Ahuja, chief manager of the branch, R. Murgai and B.R. Chauhan were also present.

CAMPS: The central excise commissionerate will hold a service tax registration week from May 1 to May 7 to guide the tax assessees falling under its jurisdiction. Camps will be held at two places i.e. at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, ICAI Bhawan, Sector 35, and Mohali Industrial Association Bhawan, Phase VII.

Chamba
Hindi workshop on: A five-day workshop on ‘Translation training programme’ under the aegis of Central Translation Bureau of the Official Language Department, Union Home Ministry, started at Karian, near Chamba, on Monday. The training programme aims at creating interest in Hindi among officials of the Chamera power station. As many as 30 officers and employees of the Chamera power station are taking part in the training programme.

KANGRA
Annual day function: Kendriya Vidyalaya, Yol Cantt, celebrated its annual day on Tuesday. Brig A.K. Sharma, CSO, HQ, 9 Corps was the chief guest. Cultural programmes were held and more than 500 students participated in the program. Principal D.P. Mamgain read out the annual school plan and briefed about the progress of the institute. Sharma complemented the school for taking a giant leap in their quest for excellence and hoped that it would soon become a model school in academics, sports, co-curricular and adventure activities. Later, he gave away the prizes to the winners. The students presented Punjabi bhangra, Rajasthani dance, classical dance, skit and quawali on the occasion.

KULLU
Charas smuggler gets jail: D.S. Khenal, Additional District and Session Judge, Fast Track Court, Kullu, on Tuesday sentenced Rakesh Kumar, son of Gaje Singh, a resident of Panipat, to two years and eight months rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,800 in a case of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. In the event of non-payment of the fine he will have to undergo an additional 28 months rigorous imprisonment. The accused was apprehended by the police with 600 gm of charas near Shringha Rishi temple in Banjar subdivision of this district on January 27 last year.

NAHAN
Five houses gutted: Five houses were gutted at Bela village in Bikram Bagh Panchayat under Nahan subdivision on Tuesday. Everything lying in these houses was burnt in the fire. The loss has been estimated to be around Rs 6 lakh. Sirmaur DC gave Rs 25,000 as immediate relief to the fire-hit families of Madu Ram, Prem Pal, Mohan Lal, Inder Pal and Ram Pal. A case has been registered.

4 hurt in accident: Four person were injured, one of them seriously, when two motorcycles had a head-on collision at Kala Amb on Tuesday. Anil Kumar, who was riding motorcycle No. HP 18A 4516, was critically injured in the accident. He was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. Ravi Kumar, a Haryana resident riding motorcycle No. HP 18 4250, Sanjay Sharma and Tilak Raj were under treatment at a private clinic at Kala Amb. A case has been registered.

Protest march: Around 200 ayurvedic pharmacists took out a protest march at Paonta on Tuesday. They were demanding recognisation to their diplomas obtained from the SCVT training centres in the state during the tenure of the previous Congress government. Protesters raised slogans. The rally started from Badripur and went up to the office of the SDM, Paonta, after passing through the main market. They submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the SDM.