The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

NATION

OPINIONS

LETTERS

BUSINESS

SPORTS

WORLD

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI

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

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Jagjit Sehdev to head DCC: Jagjit Singh Sehdev was on Friday appointed officiating president of the District Congress Committee (Urban) replacing its acting president O.P. Sareen with immediate effect. According to an office order, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has advised Sehdev to assume the charge with immediate effect and report to the PPCC headquarters at Chandigarh.

Arun Chawla tops varsity exam: Arun Chawla of DAV College, Amritsar, secured the top position in the B.Com (I) examination of Guru Nanak Dev University, the results of which were declared on Wednesday. He secured 476 marks. Stating this in a release to the media here, the university spokesman said Rupinder Kaur Sandhu of Sri Raghunath Girls College, Jandiala Guru, stood second with 474 marks, while Neha Sharma of the SR Government College for Women, Amritsar, for the third position with 473 marks.

LIC launches new plan: The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Friday launched its unit-linked endowment plan - Money Plus 1. This plan offers dual benefits of investment and insurance.Talking to mediapersons here, the senior divisional manager said the plan offered four investment options: bond, secured, balanced and growth funds. The plan has features like enhanced limits for investment in the equity market for secured and balanced funds, lower fund management charges and enhanced limit for critical illness coverage. The senior divisional manager said the LIC would soon open satellite sampark offices at Sujanpur and Dhariwal in Gurdaspur district and Patti in Tarn Taran district.

Bathinda
Awarded: Beena Rao, Dean, Eastwood International School, Doomwali has become the proud recipient of the prestigious ‘National Mahila Rattan Gold Medal and “Rashtriya Vidya Saraswati Puruskar. Indian Solidarity Council and International Institute of Education and Management have presented the twin awards. Former Governer of Tamil Nadu and North Eastern States Bhishm Narain Singh-Former Governer of Punjab O.P.Verma- and Former Election Comissioner of India G.V.G Krishna Murthy presented her the award .

Arts topper: Manvi Goel, a student of DPS here, has scripted an inimitable success story by topping the class XII examination of the CBSE in Bathinda district in Arts group by securing 84 per cent marks. Her success was all the more significant as she had switched over from non-medical to Arts in class XI and worked hard to make up for the loss of studies due to midstream change of subjects. Mansi plans to pursue a course in Law and enter the administrative service through competition. She is hopeful that her cherished dream would be realised.

IMA flays attack: The IMA Bathinda, in its executive meeting held here today, strongly condemned the attack on Dr Ashutosh of Jalandhar by hooligans, following the death of a patient in his hospital. The IMA Bathinda demanded immediate arrest of culprits and appealed to the public at large not to endorse such hooligans and rioters so that the medical fraternity is able to serve the masses fearlessly.

Forms sought: The Nehru Yuva Kendra, Bathinda, has called for applications for the Best Youth Club and Best Boy/Girl awards before June 20, 2008. The clubs, who are applying, must be registered under 1860 Act and all claimed activities must be within the time period of April1, 2007 to March 31, 2008. The candidates who are applying for the Best Boy/Girl award must be within the age group of 13-35 years.

CHANDIGARH
River-cleaning project: Project formulation adviser, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Kamata Hiroko called on CM Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday at his residence and put forth a proposal to set up a joint committee comprising officers of the state government, the Punjab Pollution Control Board and experts of the agency to implement a project to monitor and clean the rivers of the state.

Hoshiarpur
‘UPA govt a failure’: The Congress-led UPA government has failed on all fronts in its four years of rule. Stating this in a press note issued here on Friday, district president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Manu Sharma said the UPA government’s failure to check spiralling inflation had threatened economic and food security of the common man.

Dowry death: The Mahilpur police has booked Parminder Kumar, his mother Gurmit Kaur, brother Onkar Singh, Raj Kumar and sister Bholi, all residents of Jandoli, under section 304 B of the IPC on Thursday. According to police sources, Mandeep Kaur, daughter of Paras Ram of Kabirpur, was married to Parminder Kumar three years ago. Mandeep Kaur’s body was found hanging from a ceiling girder in a room on Wednesday. Paras Ram alleged that Mandeep Kaur was killed by her in-laws.

Dry days: Keeping in view the panchayat election on May 26, district magistrate N.K. Wadhawan has declared May 25 and 26 as dry days and has ordered to close all liquor vends on these days throughout the district.

MANSA
Farewell to TB officer: The Sabhyachar Chetna Manch here gave farewell to Dr Nishan Singh, district TB officer here, on the eve of his transfer to Faridkot Medical College for higher education. Manch president and TB-HIV co-ordination committee member Kamaljeet Malwa said Nishan Singh sincerely worked for the TB control programmes in the district and for his efforts Mansa TB Unit bagged first position in the state on the World TB Day.

Civil judge dead: Junior division civil judge at Pathankot and resident of this city Harinderjeet Singh Tiwana (44) died due to heart attack and was cremated here on Thursday. He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.

MOGA
Poll staff warned: DM of Moga, Satwant Singh Johal, warned returning officers, presiding officers and other staff on poll duty that if they were found indulged in any unfair means he would order registration of a criminal case, besides, departmental inquiry against them. The DM asked them to perform their duty honestly and impartially. “Any complaint against poll staff will be dealt seriously and if found true a criminal case would be registered against him,” the DM said.

Nawanshahr
Attack flayed: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) organised meetings at Nawanshahr and Banga to condemn ransacking of Doaba Hospital and assault on Dr Ashutosh Gupta in Jalandhar recently. The association members expressed solidarity with Dr Ashutosh and urged the Punjab government to bring in an ordinance on the pattern of Andhra Pradesh to curb such incidents.

PATIALA
Rs 40 lakh relief to farmers: Punjab State Electricity Board chairman Y.S. Ratra said on Tuesday that farmers, whose wheat crop was destroyed due to overhead wires, were paid compensation of Rs 40 lakh. A survey in this connection was done with the help of deputy commissioners, he added.

Pbi varsity closed on May 26: All departments and neighbourhood campuses of Punjabi University will remain closed on May 26 on account of Gram Panchayat elections in Punjab. This was stated in a press note issued by the public relations departments of the university.

Phagwara
House burgled: A house of an NRI was reportedly burgled at Mauli village in the district last night. According to the police, the burglars broke into the house of NRI Roop Lal and decamped with over Rs 1 lakh and gold ornaments worth over Rs 1 lakh. The police has registered a case.

PANCHAYAT POLLS
AMRITSAR
Holiday in GND varsity: Guru Nanak Dev University has announced a holiday on May 26 in all its departments and administrative offices due to Panchayat polls. This was stated here on Thursday by the registrar of the university.

GURDASPUR
Protest by employees: Employees on election duty protested against the block development project officer, Narot Jaimal Singh, for not following the guidelines issued by the state EC here on Thursday. The irate employees, majority of them teachers, held a protest alleging that the officer had not cancelled poll duty of handicapped persons and widows, besides one member in couple cases.

Nomination papers: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state EC to conduct re-verification of nomination papers filed by over 22 candidates for the membership of Panchayats at Dera Baba Nanak. The court has asked the district electoral officer to follow the directions and provide justice to the affected persons.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
Liquor shop closure: The deputy commissioner of SAS Nagar Rahul Bhandari has ordered the closure of all liquor shops in the district on May 25 and May 26 for the panchayat elections. Liquor would also not be served in hotels, bars and restaurants, ordered the DC.

MOHALI
InNaugurated: A state of the art critical care unit was inaugurated On Friday at IVY Hospital with an aim to augment critical medicare facilities. It is the first of its kind health mall in the region. Prakash P. Mallya, chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank, inaugurated the unit. It has 14-bedded unit.

PANCHKULA
Blood donation: Around 50 units of blood were collected at a blood donation camp organised by State Bank Learning Centre on Friday. Bharat Bhushan, assistant general manager of the centre, inaugurated the camp. A team from PGI led by Dr Usha Rao conducted the camp.

Snatchings: In two different incidents, the snatchers took away a gold chain and cash of Rs 50,000 from here on Friday. The miscreants snatched the chain of Geeta, a Sector 7 resident. In other incident at Sector 15, two motorcyclists took away Dimple’s purse, which had Rs 50,000.

Workshop: A workshop on time management was organised at St. Vivekanand Millennium School, HMT Township, Pinjore, near here yeserday. Hindustan Times consultant Renu Divan conducted it. The workshop was an interactive session and all teachers participated.

Vitiligo Day: Around 65 million people in the world are suffering from Vitiligo, (fulvehri), a skin disease, even as most types of it are treatable. Dr Vikas Sharma, a renowned dermatologist in the region here, stated this today. Dr Vikas Sharma, chief consultant dermatologist and dermato-laser surgeon at local a hospital, stated this on the occasion of Vitiligo week being observed by the hospital. International Vitiligo Day fell on May 19 every year.

HARYANA

KAITHAL
Five arrested: The CIA branch of the district police has arrested five persons who had looted Rs 2.03 lakh from employees of the land reclamation department at gunpoint here in October 2007. Those arrested have been identified as Sandeep, Pardeep, Parhlad, Satish and Hoshiyar Singh. The accused were produced in a local court on Friday and sent them to a five-day police remand for the recovery of the looted cash.

Addl grant for pond: The government has released an additional sum of Rs 2.5 crore for the rehabilitation of historical Bidhikyar pond of Kaithal. This amount is in addition to Rs 11 crore already sanctioned for the project. This was stated by power minister Randeep Surjewala on Wednesday.

Board for dowry cases: A special board constituted at district level to sort out dowry-related cases will have a sitting here on every Friday. This was stated by City Magistrate Manjeet Singh while presiding over the meeting of the district Anti-dowry Society here on Thursday. He said efforts to eradicate dowry system were on since long, but still this problem could not be solved and women continued to become victims of the system. He said time had come that each one of us should make sincere efforts to eradicate this social evil.

REWARI
Over 100 kg coil stolen: Over 100 kg of coil worth Rs 10,500 was reportedly stolen by unknown persons from electricity transformers at Gujriwas and Salhawas villages near Kasaula on the intervening night of May 21 and 22.

ROHTAK
UGC grant for MDU dept: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sanctioned a grant of Rs 10 lakh for the department of biosciences at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here for the development of infrastructure. The head of the department, Dr S.N. Mishra, said the grant amount would be utilised for the development of laboratories and other necessary infrastructure.

1 killed in mishapREWARI: A physically disabled person, Krishan Lal (38), was reportedly crushed to death by an unknown vehicle while he was crossing the road at Budhpur village, 6 km from here, on Thursday.

SIRSA
Youth held for attacking girl: The police held a youth for assaulting a girl of his locality without any provocation here on Friday. Sonu of Inder Puri Mohalla smashed a glass bottle on the head of a girl on Thursday. The incident took place when the girl, a student of the CMK College for Women, was returning to her house.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Chandel’s nomination hailed: The district unit of the BJP here has expressed happiness and deep appreciation for nominating Suresh Chandel as a specially invited member of the party for the state executive committee. It said this had spread a wave of joy among party workers throughout the state. District party secretary Bhim Singh Chandel, accompanied by 12 party leaders, thanked national president Rajnath Singh, state party in charge Satya Pal Jain and his deputy O.P. Dhannakkad, state president Jairam Thakur, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal and veteran leader Shanta Kumar for this much awaited reinstatement of Suresh Chandel in the party. These leaders were categorical that Chandel was made a conspiracy victim and his involvement in any bribe operation was still not proved.

DHARAMSALA
Class XII results: Students of BD DAV Public School, Dharamsala, performed well in the CBSE class XII examinations. Anchal Sood, who had opted for both the science streams, topped with 91.6 per cent marks. Kartikey Dogra got second position with 87.4 per cent and Anamika Sharma stood third with 86 per cent.

HAMIRPUR
Woman commits suicide: A married woman committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at her house at Shah Talai on Friday. Seema (21) was married about two months ago. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she died.

KULLU
Woman killed in mishap: A woman was run over by a tourist bus at Jaan village, about 20 km from here, on Thursday. The bus was on its way to Bhuntar from Manikaran when the mishap took place. The victim was identified as Dhano Devi of Shat village, who was a PWD labourer and was returning home after work. She succumbed to her injuries on her way to the hospital. The body was handed over to her relatives after the post-mortem examination.

NAHAN
Body found: Nisha (26), a resident of Rajgarh, was reportedly found dead on a roadside in Chandigarh in mysterious circumstances on Friday. Her family sources said for the past few months she was residing in Mohali, Chandigarh. Her body was laying on a roadside in Sector 11. A sub-inspector of the concerned police station of Chandigarh said the body of Nisha had been sent for the post-mortem examination. There is no visible injury on her body. The police was investigating the matter, he added.

SHIMLA
Govt’s decision hailed: The Himachal Pradesh Employees Confederation hailed the decision of the government to recover the arrears payable to employees dismissed from service out of political vendetta during the Congress regime from the concerned officers.The general secretary of the confederation said officers who carried out the vindictive agenda of the Congress should be proceeded against under the constitution provisions and penalised for their malafide actions. It would help in curtailing the misuse of administrative power by officers.

SUNDERNAGAR
Six injured in mishap: Six members of a family were injured when the driver of lost control on the car and it rolled down into a 100-feet deep gorge at Kangoo near Sundernagar on Friday afternoon. All injured have been admitted at Civil Hospital Sundernagar. The condition of two is still stated to be serious. The injured have been identified as Rajesh (28) driver of the car, Vishal (30), Teena (27), Ritu (27), Mohit (6) and Harshit (10 months) all residents of Shanewal, Ludhiana. The police has registered case against the driver of the car.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Shiv Khori shrine: Around two lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the Shiv Khori Shrine Cave in Reasi district this year uptil now, official sources said on Friday. Over 27,000 pilgrims have already visited the shrine and an average of 1,400 to 1,500 devotees visit the shrine daily. The shrine board has made arrangements to provide facilities to pilgrims, while a number of development works were in progress.

SRINAGAR
Rs 98-crore loan: Loans to the tune of Rs 98 crore were provided to 8,027 beneficiaries under the credit action plan in Pulwama district during the last fiscal. This was informed by Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo, district development commissioner. He said this included Rs 49 crore disbursed under the priority sector and Rs 48.77 crore under the non-priority sector.

Employment scheme: Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Kupwara district, 850 development works were taken up, out of which 160 works were completed at the cost of Rs 5.13 crore. Besides, 54,000 job cards had been issued so far. All developmental activities in model villages were expected to be completed soon.

Income-generating units: An amount of Rs 44.22 crore was provided as loan for setting up of 4,131 income-generating units in Shopian district under the annual action last year. About Rs 31.7 crore were provided under the priority sector and Rs 13.5 crore under the non-priority sector by various financial institutions in the district.

Agricultural camp: To boost agricultural production, the agriculture department on Friday organised various interactive sessions-cum-awareness camps for farmers throughout the valley. The camp was held at Narakara and laid stress on vegetable cultivation on a profitable basis. The experts informed farmers about the latest techniques developed in the field of agriculture.

Milk production increases: As a result of the concerted efforts of the department of animal husbandry, the daily milk production in Baramulla district has touched 3.40 lakh litres, while the cattle population has reached 1.25 lakh, including 77,516 crossbred. Officers said 6,410 doses were given to animals against liver fluke and intestinal worms besides, 7,000 animals were treated against diseases.