CHANDIGARH

Mohali
Cremation: Body of former DGP of Maharashtra Amarjit Singh Samra was cremated here on Monday. Amarjit Singh Samra had died at Grecian Hospital on Sunday after a brief illness. SSP Ranbir Singh Khatra and SP (City) Varinder Pal Singh laid a wreath on behalf of the Punjab Police. Former DGPs Sube Singh and S.R. Sharma, among other dignitaries, attended the cremation. 

Draw of lots stayed: The draw of lots for 979 plots falling in Sectors 77 and 78, which was to be held by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority on Tuesday, has been stayed by a court. According to information, the original owners of the land had approached the court after they came to know that their names had not been included in the draw of lots for the plots. 

Painting competition: As many as 350 students from 13 schools took part in an inter-school painting and poster-making competition organised by the Generation Saviour Association at Shivalik Public School here on Monday. Students worked on the theme “Youth and Tobacco”. Winners would be given prizes at a function on May 25. 

Panchkula
26-year-old hangs herself: Seema (26), a resident of Power Colony in Industrial Area, Phase II, hanged herself at her residence here on Monday night. According to the police, an altercation with her parents led Seema to take the extreme step. The police has registered a case and the body has been sent for postmortem. 

Assembly: A ‘Bijli Sabha’ to redress the grievances of consumers would be held at the divisional office of the electricity board, Power Colony, Industrial Area Phase II, at 11 am here on Tuesday. The assembly would be chaired by R.C. Chaudhary, superintending engineer, Operational Circle, Ambala.

HARYANA

CHANDIGARH
Bill collection centres: The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) on Monday said all its cash collection centres would remain open on May 7 and all Saturdays, which are otherwise holidays in the state. A spokesman of the nigam said the cash collection centres in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Jind, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts would remain open from 9 am to 3 pm to accept payment of energy bills from the consumers. This had been done to facilitate the consumers. 

Revising PWD code: The Haryana government is revising the PWD code to make the functioning of the department more efficient and transparent. While stating this here on Monday, an official spokesman said the second draft of the PWD code had been made available on the website of PWD (B&R) i.e. www.haryanapwd-bandr.org. He said comments/suggestions as regards to the code were invited from all concerned stakeholders on the website pwd-eeplanning1@hry.nic.in by May 19. 

FATEHABAD
Salesman thrashed: A salesman was allegedly thrashed by his employer, Vinod Machra, a liquor vendor at Khabra Kalan village, on Sunday. The liquor contractor not only severely beat up the salesman but also burnt his feet. The victim, Piare Lal (57), is recuperating in a hospital. The police is yet to register a case despite a complaint by the victim. The victim alleged that when the contractor demanded the account statement, he told him that some money was to be collected from debtors, following which the contractor thrashed him. 

Sirsa
MC employees’ protest: Membes of the Nagar Parishad Karamchari Sangh held a dharna in favour of their demands at Municipal Council office here on Monday. Its district president Dara Ram said the government was not releasing loan for buying wheat. He said contractual employment was hitting the interests of regular employees and added that several posts had been lying vacant. 

Sonepat
4 booked for murder: Following the death of Rajesh of Firozpur Bangar village in a hospital in Delhi on Sunday, a case of murder has been registered against four persons, Ashok, Gandhi, Sri Niwas and Vinod of the same village. The complaint was lodged by Vijender, brother of the deceased. No arrest has been made so far. Vijender has alleged that Rajesh was seriously injured after he was beaten up by the accused during a marriage party on Saturday. 

Yamunanagar
Workshop held: Tarun Sharma, an eminent motivational trainer and attitudinal speaker, delivered a lecture on “realise the power of your brain” during a workshop at Ganpati Gyan Mandir, Marwa Kalana, here on Monday. Dr M.K. Sehgal, chairman-cum-CEO of Ganpati institutions, dwelled upon the importance of motivation. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
Murder case reopened: The police has reopened the file of Naresh Kumar murder case. Hamirpur SP Asif Jalal summoned few people related with this murder case and is reinvestigating the entire case. Naresh Kumar, a resident of ward no. 3, was brutally murdered near Pratap Nagar on the night of December 6, 2005. The police then did not have much headway in this murder case, which evoked criticism from the public.

KANGRA
BSNL services hit: Resentment prevails among BSNL subscribers over frequent disruption of network for hours together. The Internet, broadband and mobile network was disrupted around 7.30 pm on May 2. The disruption continued for over two hours. A similar snag hit the network around 6 pm the next day. The services were restored at 8.10 pm. Such disruptions affected the work of mediapersons, cyber cafés and tour and travel agencies the most. No BSNL officers, including general manager R. Deepak Chaturvedi and both DGMs (operation I and II), were available for comments. 

KUMARHATTI
I-T office at Baddi: The Income Tax Department has opened its range office at Baddi on Monday. The office will help people and industry in a big way here as in the lack of the office one had to go to Parwanoo for tax related matter. 

Three booked: The police on Monday booked three shopkeepers for obstructing the anti-encroachment team’s drive to remove encroachment in Baddi’s main market. Among the three shopkeepers were president and vice-president of the Congress-backed Beopar Mandal while the third one was an ex office-bearer of the BJP-supported Beopar Mandal. The police were trying to identity other shopkeepers who forced the team to leave the place without performing its duty. 

MANALI
Seminar: A seminar on job-oriented courses in the field of aviation hospitality and management was at a local hotel here on Sunday. The seminar was organised by Aviation Hospitality and Management (AHM) Limited, Mohali, Punjab. Karan Arora, managing director of the AHM, elaborated on the avenues available in the field. 

NAHAN
Body found: A body was found lying by the roadside near Kolar village on the Nahan-Paonta state highway on Monday. The deceased has been identified as Dinesh Kumar (40), a resident of nearby area. There were injury marks on different parts of the body. Jeewan Das, father of the deceased, said his son did not possess sound mental health and had disappeared from his house the previous morning. He suspected that Dinesh was hit by some vehicle. 

Nurpur
Villagers douse forest fire: Miscreants set on fire a newly developed forest at Khushinagar in Ganhi Lagor gram panchayat, near here, on Sunday evening. As many as 300 plants were burnt in the fire but timely action by residents of the panchayat saved other plants in the forest in which saplings of sagwan, kachnar, sheesham and amla were planted under a World Bank-aided project two years back. 

SOLAN
Nauni varsity to organise seminar: A two-day seminar on “Sustainable Management of Micro-watershed Resources in Northwest Himalayas” would be organised by the Department of Soil Sciences and Water Management at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry on May 8 and 9. According to Dr S.K. Bhardwaj, organising secretary, four technical sessions would be held which would deliberate on issues like watershed, soil survey, land use strategies, soil, water and biodiversity conservation and socio-economic aspects of watershed management. More than 75 scientists from various universities across the country are expected to participate. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Three docs suspended: Three doctors were among four officials suspended by the state government after a child died due to their alleged negligence on Monday. The condition of Abhinav Singh (4), being treated at the Samba district hospital, became serious and in the absence of doctors and paramedical staff, the child died. Later, his family along with locals held a protest and blocked the Jammu-Pathankot highway for two hours. Saruv Baghat, DC, pacified the agitated family members and ordered a probe. Dr A. Gupta, Dr Priyanka, Dr Liza and paramedical staffer Hans Raj had been suspended. 

SRINAGAR
Smuggler held: The police arrested a smuggler and recovered one-and-a-half kg charas in south Kashmir, official sources said on Monday. They said a naka was set up near Kadlabal Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. During the search, the police recovered charas and arrested one smuggler. The police in its drive has arrested more than 50 smugglers and recovered charas, brown sugar and other banned items in south Kashmir during the past four months. 

Militant killed: One unidentified militant was killed in an encounter in the west area of Pathri Post, Kupwara by the 8 JAKLI during the intervening night of May 3 and 4. One AK 47 rifle, twelve maps, one grenade (destroyed) one water bottle and one pouch were recovered from the possession of the slain militant. The police said they were trying to identify the slain militant who could be a foreigner. 

Arms seized: Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a search operation at Tantray Pora Palhalan, Baramulla, and recovered one AK 47 rifle, two AK magazines, 30 rounds of AK ammunition and six IED circuits from an open field on Monday. A case has been registered but no arrests have been made so far. 

Charas recovered: The police on Monday recovered 1.5 kg of charas from a Maruti car near the Kadalabal national highway. One person Ab Hamid Dar of Padgampora had been arrested. The police has registered a case in this regard. 

Body fished out: The body of Mohammad Ilyas Khan, a driver who drowned in Jhelum river in Uri sector of Baramulla district, was fished out on Monday after nine days of hectic search. A resident of Chandanwari village in Uri had drowned on April 27, when his truck skidded off the road and fell into the river. His body was handed over to his kin, the police said.