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PUNJAB

Abohar
PSEB staff hold rally: Responding to a call given by the Sangharsh Samiti of the Technical Services Union, Muktsar circle, the PSEB workers organised protest rallies at sub-divisional offices of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) here today. TSU sub-divisional presidents, Balwant Singh and Nirmal Singh, while presiding over the rallies in their respective office complexes, strongly criticised CM Parkash Singh Badal for not fulfilling promises reportedly made during a meeting with the deputation of the Kisan Mazdoor Mulajam Sangharsh Samiti on April 8. The workers said similar rallies would be held in other sub-divisions on Friday.

Sewing centre opened: The Bharat Vikas Parishad (Shivaji) opened a sewing training centre for women in Prem Nagar here as a tribute to Surinder Nagpal, a young engineer in irrigation department, who died in a road mishap. His brother Vijay Nagpal was the chief guest at the inaugural function held on Wednesday. Poonam Chhabra, a social activist, presided over the function. Sandeep Watts, a member of the state executive of the organisation, and patron Praveen Chawla said the BVP was trying to inculcate rich moral values besides imparting training through such centres. BVP president Pardeep Garg informed that about 800 girls had so far got training at such centres in different localities. Most of them adopted it as a profession, he added. Vimla Garg and Saroj Gupta, in-charge of the centre, also spoke on the occasion.

Alumni association: Gopi Chand Arya Mahila College here has decided to form its alumni association, informed principal Neelam Arun Mittu. Claiming that students of this oldest girls’ college had excelled in Panjab University examinations by getting top positions, she said many students were playing a vital role in the development of the country. The institution plans to compile information on them, the principal added.

AMRITSAR
GND varsity postpones exams: Guru Nanak Dev University has postponed all annual and semester theory examinations scheduled for May 12. The university has, however, clarified that the time and examination centres would remain the same for the other examinations. Dr R.S. Bawa, registrar, said the revised notification of the postponed examinations with new dates had been sent to all institutions.

Bathinda
Protest: On the call given by Joint Forum of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant Employees Federation, Bathinda, held a protest at Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, on Thursday. They even burnt the effigy of PSEB chairman on the occasion. Addressing the employees, federation president, Gursewak Singh Hari Nau said that the PSEB chairman has broken all promises made to the Joint Forum. He also appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that he should intervene for solving the employee’s problems so that uninterrupted power supply should be given to the farmers in the upcoming paddy season.

Telecom staff: The annual meeting of the National Federation of Telecom Employees Union of Bathinda and Mansa districts was held at the Teachers’ Home here recently. At the meeting, Jaswant Singh Sandhu was unanimously chosen as the district president, Jasvir Singh and Bhagwant Singh as vice-presidents, Surjit Singh Sodhi as district secretary, Ram Dass Sodhi and Thana Singh as assistant secretary, Amar Singh Dogra as cashier and Vir Singh as district auditor.

DERA BASSI
1 killed in accident: Rampal (32), a resident of Mubarakpur, died in a road accident on Wednesday night. The accident took place when Ram Pal was walking on the main road and was hit by a speeding motorcyclist. The victim fell on the ground and was rushed to the Dera Bassi civil hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Hoshiarpur
Show-cause notices issued: Deputy commissioner-cum-district election registration officer N.K. Wadhawan has issued show-cause notices to more than 1,000 presiding, assistant presiding and polling officers who were absent in the poll rehearsals on May 6. He said action would be taken against the guilty under section 120 of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994. He advised the officers to participate in the rehearsal on May 9, failing which legal proceedings would be initiated.

RO removed: The state Election Commission has removed returning officer (RO) B.S. Kang for block samiti, Talwara, on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The district election officer has sent a panel of three government officers for the appointment of new returning officer.

Statue stolen: Some miscreants stole Veer Chakra recipient Bhai Bachittar Singh’s statue along with a flag from the panchayat land at Sardullapur village on Tuesday night. This was reported by Bhai Bachittar Singh's nephew Sajjan Singh to the Mahilpur police station.

NABHA
SHO shifted to Police Lines: Inspector Bindu Bala, SHO of the Sadar Police station, was on Thursday transferred to the Police Lines, Patiala, on the orders of the Election Commission. She had conducted a raid, along with health officials, to take samples of the alleged synthetic milk from the dairy of Balvinder Singh
Bittu, a Congress candidate for the Zila Parishad election from Dulladi in
the Nabha sub-division.

PATHANKOT
426 in the fray in Gurdaspur: SSP Lok Nath Angra said on Thursday that election would be held for 16 Zila Parishad seats and 196 Samiti seats in the district for which 426 (30 candidates for Zila Parishad and 396 for Panchayat Samiti) were in the fray. The district had been divided into 11 blocks and 631 polling stations had been set up, he added.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
Cop booked: Aconstable of the Mohali police has been booked on the charge of having lost an official wireless set given to him for use. According to the police, Pawan Kumar claimed that the set fell from his hand somewhere at a function organised at the Army Institute of Law here about a month ago. The matter was brought to the notice of the ADGP, computer and telecommunication, who then asked the local police to book the constable under Section 409 of the IPC.

Blood donation camp: Ablood donation camp was organised on Thursday by the management of Airtel on their premises to commemorate World Red Cross Day. The camp was conducted by a team from Rotary and Blood Bank Society Resources Centre, Chandigarh. As many as 82 units of blood was collected during the camp.

Elected: Jaswinder Singh, president of the Mohali Liquor Association, has chosen Amarjeet Singh Sidhu as the senior vice-president of the association. Gurpreet Singh will be the vicepresident, Rajdeep Singh general secretary while Rakesh Kumar will be the cashier.

Dead: Onkar Singh, son-in-law of former President of India Giani Zail Singh’s brother passed away at Mohali recently. He was 75. He worked at the Bhakra Dam for about 40 years and retired as public relations officer in 1990. He is survived by three daughters and a son.

PANCHKULA
Dead: Former director of the Haryana health department R.K. Batta who was injured in a road accident on April 22, died on Wednesday. Dr Batta’s daughter Amba was killed on the spot in the accident. On the night of April 22, Dr Batta’s Maruti Zen car was hit by a Ford Fiesta near Command Hospital on Chandigarh-Panchkula Road.

ZIRAKPUR
Body found: The police recovered the body of a young man from the railway tracks on Thursday. The body was seen by passersby near Dhakoli who informed the railway police. The body has been taken to the Dera Bassi civil hospital where it would be kept for two days for identification.

Announced: City Congress Committe, Zirakpur, announced the city body members. Vice-presidents: Satpal Sharma, Joginder Singh Nagla; press secretary: Ashim Banerjee; joint secretary: Hitesh.

HARYANA

Chandigarh
Entrance test: Jawahar Navodaya Vidayalaya, Pabda (Hisar), will hold an entrance test to fill the vacant seats of its class IX on the school premises on June 8. While giving this information here on Thursday, an official spokesman said the candidates who had passed their class 8th examinations from any government or recognised institution during the session 2007 - 08 would be eligible for appearing in this entrance test. He said the interested candidates should submit their filled application in prescribed performa by May 15, 2008.

FATEHABAD
Advocate found dead: The body of Jagwinder Singh (47), an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was recovered from the Sirsa branch near Gillankhera village in this district on Thursday. The advocate had reportedly gone missing from his Mohali residence on May 5. The body was handed over to victim’s kin after postmortem.

GURGAON
Engineering college: Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai will lay the foundation stone of Mewat Engineering College at Palla village in Nuh tehsil on Friday. As per official release, the engineering college is being established by the Wakf Board on its 13-acre land in Palla village.

Jagadhri
Accused thrashes sentinel: Son of a Haryana sub-inspector (retd), who is facing charges of dacoity, allegedly thrashed a sentinel of district courts lockup on the court premises here on Thursday. Vipin was held along with three others in November last for alleged involvement in dacoity, snatching and thefts. He was facing a trail in a court here.

JIND
Youth shot dead: Some unidentified car-borne armed persons shot dead a youth on the national highway near Ahinka village in this district on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Balbir (22) of Panipat.

SIRSA
Judicial remand: Mahavir Prasad, a former BJP leader, has surrendered before the district court in a case pertaining to 1990. He was sent to 14-day judicial remand. According to police sources, the city police station had registered a case for scuffle with police officials and damaging property against 25 people, including Prasad on October 19, 1990.

YAMUNANAGAR
ITI student dies in mishap: A student of ITI allegedly slipped from a bus of Haryana Roadways he was travelling and died near Thana Chhapar here on Wednesday. The victim, Harkesh, was the resident of Kherakala village and was returning home from Ambala. He was getting off the bus when the accident took place. The bus driver has been booked.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

RAJOURI
Cache recovered: Security forces recovered a cache of arms and ammunition comprising more than 24 grenades from Ans village in Buddhal area on Thursday. A defence spokesman said on specific information, troops of the 60 RR and the state police in a joint operation busted a hideout in Ans village and recovered 14 hand grenades, 13 UBGL grenades and 79 detonators.

SRINAGAR
Woman drowned: Hussein Jan (45) was drowned, while one person was killed and two others were injured, in separate accidents in the Kashmir valley overnight, official sources said. Hussein was drowned in the Qazi Nag river in Kupwara. Meanwhile, one Abdul Majid Sheikh was hit by an unidentified vehicle at Sonawar on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. In another incident, one Jamaluddin was injured after being hit by a vehicle at Leh. He was later hospitalised. In another incident, one Shabir Ahmad was injured after being hit by a vehicle at Chanapora.

Rs 3.21 lakh for needy: An amount of Rs 3.21 lakh was provided as financial assistance to children belonging to BPL families and physically challenged children during the last fiscal in Dooru tehsil of Anantnag district. Of this, 1,132 students were provided Rs 2.69 lakh as pre-matric scholarship, Rs 46,340 to physically challenged children, Rs 11,300 under the safai karamchari scheme to 35 students. Besides, 5 deaf children were provided hearing aids.

Race organised: The 10th annual cross country race was organised at the Government Degree College, Shopian, in which 30 students participated. The race which was flagged off by principal M.Y. Qazi took off from the college premises and passed through Jabripora, Pinjora and culminated at the college. Prizes were distributed to three students who finished the 8-km race in 51, 52 and 53 minutes.

Mid-day meal scheme: Under the mid-day meal scheme, Rs 10.98 lakh were utilised by the education department in Gurez tehsil of Bandipore district during the last financial year. Besides, merit scholarships of Rs 10.18 lakh were distributed among 251 students of weaker sections and free textbooks given to 5,155 students. Seven primary schools had been upgraded to the middle school level, one high school to higher secondary and two middle schools to high school standard.