The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

Abohar
Padho Punjab scheme: The eleven-day teachers training programme under the Padho Punjab scheme concluded at the Government Elementary School (basic) here in the Nai Abadi locality. The camp in-charge Shyam Sunder Sharma informed that during the three-phase programme, teachers from different primary schools were asked to teach Punjabi and Mathematics using interesting methods. District coordinator Shankar Chaudhary motivated the participants to work sincerely to make the Padho Punjab campaign a complete success.

Yoga camp: A five-day yoga camp, organised under the aegis of the Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya was inaugurated at the Sardar Patel Medical Institute here by chairman G.S. Mittal and director Manju Mittal. Manju welcomed the teachers from Haridwar, who would impart training to students and members of the teaching faculties besides other associates in yoga, Hira Lal Chauhan, organiser at the Gaytri Shaktipeeth, said.

AMRITSAR
‘Beware of babas’: Fifty-five students of Guru Nanak Dev university were trained at a four-day workshop on “Scientific Explaining of Miracles” organised by the Department of Zoology of the university which concluded here on Thursday. The workshop was to educate masses regarding their exploitation by so- called babas. Dr Raghbir Singh, dean academic affairs, exhorted the students to adopt villages and make people aware about superstitions being propagated by the so- called babas.

Counselling on July 28: Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) will conduct counselling for admission to Masters in Planning (Infrastructure) on July 28. Ashwani Luthra coordinator of Masters in planning (infrastructure) Entrance exam-2008 said all eligible candidates of the entrance test were advised to appear for counselling on July 28 along with all original certificates.

Term extended: Guru Nanak Dev University vice - chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh, on Wednesday extended the term of Dr Joginder Singh as professor of the Namdhari Guru Ram Singh Chair for another two years i.e. till July 29, 2010. A notification by the registrar of the university stated this.

Cop hit by bus: Head constable Manjit Singh posted at the Majitha Road bypass was hit by Delhi-Lahore Pakistan bus near Fatehgarh Churian bypass near here on Wednesday. A case under Sections 337, 338 and 279, of the IPC, was registered against the driver of the bus. For the first time a Pakistani driver has been booked in road mishap case.

BATHINDA
Shoes, socks distributed:The local ICFAI National College on Thursday distributed school shoes and socks to poor students of the elementary school near the stadium. The ICFAI had identified 45 poor and needy students for the gift. Sweets were also distributed among the students.

Seminar for students:The ICA Bathinda conducted a seminar to guide students for betterment of their future. The seminar was organised by director Rajeev Goyal at Hotel Rekhi here on Thursday. The students were guided on how to avail job opportunities by getting practical knowledge, said a press note received here. The ICA claimed to have placed over 105,000 students across India as an accountant.

City boy tops: Punit Singla of Bathinda got fourth position in the recently conducted MBA/MCA entrance exam jointly conducted by Panjabi University, Guru Nanak Dev University and Panjab Technical University .

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Sapling plantation: The Lions Club launched a tree plantation drive in Fatehgarh Sahib and decided to plant 6,000 saplings in the district in the coming few weeks. Deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Singla was the chief guest during the occasion who encouraged the members of the club and assured to give all possible help in the social works of the club. The drive was held at Baba Dyalpuri School on the occasion of Van Mahotsav.

Ferozepur
Panchayat election: The elections of Bhuran and Megha Rai Uttarh village panchayats, falling under Guruharshai block, would be held on July 27 as per the instructions of the State Election Commission (SEC), Punjab. DC Megh Raj informed that the SEC had earlier cancelled the elections in these villages following the incidents of booth capturing and ballot paper snatching.

Zila Parishad chairman: Manjeet Kaur Faridewala and Prem Kumar Katihra were unanimously elected as chairman and vice-chairman of the Zila Parishad, the election for which was held here on Thursday amidst tight security. ADC Jaskiran Singh who was the returning officer conducted the electoral process. On the occasion, irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, chief parliamentary secretary Sher Singh Ghubaya, MLA Surjit Kumar Jiyani, MLA Gurtej Singh, Hari Singh Zira, Paramjit Singh, both ex MLA’s, general secretary BJP Kamal Sharma, besides scores of the SAD-BJP leaders and district officials were present.

Case registered: Ghall Khurd police has registered a case against three persons for allegedly selling stolen cars. SHO Balwinder Singh said the accused had been identified as Kulwinder Sngh, Vajir Singh and Raju alias Raj Vikram and a stolen car had also been recovered from their possession.

Jalandhar
Honour for doc: City-based Dr Umesh Kumar Sapra, lecturer of Shree Laxmi Narayan Ayurvedic College, has been invited to read his research paper at the College of Ayurveda (UK). Sapra will read his paper at the health international ayurveda conference, London, scheduled to be held on July 26 and 27.

LALRU
6 hurt in mishap: A Haryana roadways bus was hit by a speeding truck near Jaula roundabout, here on Wednesday. Around six persons sustained injuries, including driver and conductor of the bus. The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital, Ambala, from where the critical cases were referred to GMCH-32, Chandigarh. According to the police, the truck was coming from Lalru and rammed into the bus from driver side. A case has been registered against the truck driver.

LUDHIANA
Exchange offer:Titan has come out with an exchange offer with flat 25 per cent discount in exchange of an old watch. Jaspreet Singh, retail executive, Titan Industries, said the offer is valid till August 24.

Inauguration: Kirtilals, a gold and diamond jewellery retailer, today opened its 'Diamond Bangles Mela' here. T.Shantakumar, managing director, said, over 500 designs would be available during the event. "The unique feature of this collection is its exclusive designs, crafted with latest Italian techniques at our state-of-the art manufacturing facility, " he said.

MOGA
Two die in mishap: Two youths were killed in an accident near Gill village on the Moga-Muktsar road when the motorcycle they were riding rammed into a jeep coming from the opposite side on Thursday. Police sources said Ranjit Singh (25), son of Pappu Singh, a resident of Rajeana village and Arun Singh (22), son of Desh Singh, a resident of Baghapurana, cousins, were coming to Moga, but near Gill village they lost control and rammed into a jeep. They died on the spot. After post-mortem examination the bodies were handed over to family members.

Two die in road mishap: Cousins Ranjit Singh (25), son of Pappu Singh and a resident of Rajeana village, and Arun Singh (22), son of Desh Singh and a resident of Baghapurana were killed on the spot when the motorcycle on which they were travelling rammed into a jeep coming from the opposite direction near Gill village on the Moga-Muktsar highway, about 6 km from here on Thursday morning, police said.

NABHA
CPI not averse to 3rd front: Bhupinder Sambar state secretary of the CPI said the Congress had lost moral right to rule the country as it had won the trust vote by horse trading. He also said the state CPI was not averse to floating a third front with the SAD, if it broke ties with communal party like the BJP.

PATIALA
One injured: One person was seriously injured at Sandarsi village near Ghanaur, here on Thursday, after he had an altercation with a friend. The injured, Gurbhej Singh, was fired at with a .12 bore rifle. He has been admitted to Rajindra Hospital with multiple injuries. Gurbhej said he had got into an argument with his friend Dhanna Singh over a property dispute. However, police sources claimed that the dispute arose over a girl who was accompanying the friends. The dispute arose in a hotel at Sandarsi and the police was investigating the matter.

Phagwara
UPA effigy burnt:Several activists of the Ambedkar Sena, youth wing of BSP, burnt an effigy of Dr Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at GT Road here on Thursday. Led by their state president Surender Dhanda, Ambedkar Sena activists raised slogans against UPA government to protest against the alleged buying of some MPs to win the trust vote in the Parliament.

ROPAR
Impersonation: A person was caught impersonating a student at DAV Senior Secondary School on Thursday. The incident took place when Class XII English compartment examination was going on. Harvir Singh, a resident of Jind Bari village, had come to appear in place of Rohit, a resident of Agampur village. The examination authorities suspected Harvir, questioned him and found that he was impersonating. He was later handed over to the police.

SANGRUR
DIET students’ strike: On a call of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) Students Welfare Association, Punjab, students of various DIETs in the state boycotted classes on Wednesday in protest against the non-acceptance of their demands by the state government. State president of the association Jagtar Singh Jhabbar said the students also raised slogans against the state government.

Tarn Taran
Youth stabbed at fair: Partap Singh (20) son of Mehnga Singh was stabbed to death at his native village Gharka, 28 km from here Sarhali police station on Thursday. Tussle between two groups of village youths is said to be behind the murder. Partap had gone to the fair in the village when the rival group attacked him with sharp- edged weapons.

CHANDIGARH

RALLY: A rally was organised by NCC cadets against female foeticide on Thursday, which observed as Save the Girl Child Day. Col R. Sharma flagged off the rally. Around 200 NCC cadets from various city colleges and schools took part.

PROTEST: INSO activists also organised an anti-ragging awareness meeting at Students Centre, PU, on Thursday. Students displayed anti-ragging posters. Students, led by PU campus INSO chairman Sukhdev Kundu, took a pledge that they would not be a part of any form of ragging.

Mohali
SHOW: A puppet show was held at Shemrock Secondary School for the tiny tots of pre-nursery, nursery, KG, Classes I and II. The show was organised by The Tribune. The puppets danced to the music of dhol and enthralled the children. The toddlers were fascinated and enjoyed the show very much.

election: Deputy commissioner, SAS Nagar, Rahul Bhandari announced on Thursday that the election of the municipal council chiefs at Nayagaon and Kurali would be held on July 26. Earlier, the elections were to be held on Wdnesday. No date has, however, been given to the election of MC chief at Zirakpur.

PANCHKULA
Journalist bereaved: Noted music, theatre and art critic Nonika Singh has been bereaved following the sudden demise of her mother Pran Sharma after a brief illness. Widow of late J.C. Sharma, she is survived by three daughters and a son. Her funeral at Manimajra cremation ground was largely attended by prominent artists, including thespians Neelam Man Singh, Rani Balbir and classical vocalist Pandit Yashpaul. The rasam kirya will be held on July 27 at 12 pm at Laxmi Narain temple, Sector 6, Panchkula.

HARYANA

CHANDIGARH
Addl charge: The financial commissioner and commissioner and principal secretary of the power department, Ashok Lavasa, has been given additional charge of financial commissioner and principal secretary, renewable energy sources department, against a vacant post with immediate effect in addition to his present assignment.

Appointed: The Haryana government has appointed Neerja, additional director, urban estates, as director and joint secretary, women and child development department, against a vacant post.

Faridabad
1 killed, 5 hurt in roof collapse: A female vendor selling goods in Sanatan Dharam Public School in Hodal, 20 km from here, was killed and five students of the institute were injured when the roof of a room collapsed. The victims were buried in the debris. The female vendor died on the spot. The injured students are Lokesh, Sandeep, Anjali, Surjee and Naresh. Anjali, a student of standard 1, was reported to be seriously injured. The incident occurred when the students were purchasing eatables from the vendor. The district adminstration has announced a sum of Rs 21,000 to the next of kin of the deceased. The police has registered a case against the management of the school.

Karnal
CM inaugurates 2 bridges: Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday inaugurated two bridges in the district. He inaugurated the Rs 12 crore Karnal-Kachhwa railway overbridge and another on the Western Yamuna Plan.

KAITHAL
Work in courts suspended: The work in the district courts of Kaithal and Kurukshetra and subdivisional courts at Guhla and Pehowa remained suspended as a mark of respect to late Y.K Mangal, two times president of Kaithal Bar Association and a leading lawyer of the area on Thursday. He died of cardiac arrest here on Wednesday at his residence.

Training programme: The Swaran Jayanti Gram Sawrozgar Yojna is a programme which aims at organising self-help groups to make them self-reliant and bring them out of below poverty line. Ramesh Verma, ADC, stated this while addressing a one-day training programme organised by the DRDA at Pundri, 15 km from here, on Thursday.

SIRSA
Monthly journal: The Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, has taken over the production of ‘Gau Ki Aur’, a monthly journal of the District Rural Development Authority.The journal will carry information about various schemes of the rural development.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Plea to streamline medical reimbursement: The Himachal Pradesh State Pensioners Welfare Association has hailed the government for sanctioning Rs 16 crore for clearing all pending medical reimbursement bills of pensioners. Association president Jiva Nand Jivan said the system of clearing pending medical reimbursement bills of pensioners needed to be properly streamlined and reviewed at regular intervals so that pensioners did not face difficulties. He said he had written a letter to the government, pleading that all heads of departments at the state and district levels should be asked to present a status report of medical reimbursement payment requirements every month invariably.

SHIMLA
Panel to identify industrial problems: The Shoghi Industrial Area Welfare Society and Shimla Chapter of Laghu Udyog Bharti will look into the negligible industrial activities and give suggestions to the government. The two organisations will form a committee to find out the problems being faced by the entrepreneurs and submit a report to the director industries, so that remedial measures can be taken to attract investment. The office-bearers of the two organisations held a meeting here recently to evolve a strategy to work for the welfare of industrialists of Shoghi area.

CPM protests against nuclear deal: Blaming the UPA regime for creating a political crisis in the country by going ahead with the nuclear deal, the CPM on Tuesday said it had withdrawn support from the government as it was in the national interest. The CPM staged a dharna outside the office of the deputy commissioner and later held a rally at Naaz. CPM leaders Rakesh Singha, Kashmir Singh Thakur, Sanjay Chauhan, Jagat Ram and Tikender Singh Panwar said they were not against nuclear energy but the conditions that would be imposed on India after signing the deal.

Illegal mining: More than 95 cases of illegal mining have been detected over the past 11 months in the state. This was state by deputy commissioner J.S. Rana here on Thursday. In all, 316 raids had been conducted to check illegal mining so far, he added. “Out of the 95 cases of illegal mining, 60 have been compounded and an amount of Rs 2,03,455 has been collected as fine,” he said. District mining officer Indresh Dhiman said clearance had been given to 28 mining leases and 16 stone crushers in Shimla district.

HAMIRPUR
Convicted: District and Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, R.L. Raghu sentenced Nirmal Singh to seven-year jail and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 under Section 376 of the IPC on Thursday for committing an unnatural act with a minor boy in 2005.

National unity festival: The Nehru Yuva Kendra will organise a national unity festival at Hamirpur from July 30 to August 5. Hamirpur ADM Vijay Chandan reviewed preparation for the festival on Thursday. He said 150 boys and girls from 10 states would participate in the festival that would be inaugurated on by Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur. “Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal has been requested to be the chief guest of the concluding function,” he added. The participants would visit places of cultural importance and exchange view on cleanliness, environment protection etc with local youths, he added.

NAHAN
Body found: On the information given by the local residents, the Paonta police on Thursday recovered the body of Ram Lal (45) a resident of Sainwala village under Paonta subdivision from the Bata river near Fatehpur village. V. S. Thakur, DSP, Paonta, said the deceased was missing from his home from the past two days. The police had received the postmortem report which confirmed the death due to drowning. The police had been informed that the deceased was mentally upset for the past few days.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Rajouri
Soldier injured: An Army soldier of the Bihar Regiment was reportedly injured when he touched an abandoned landmine buried near Nullah Post in Sawjian sector in Poonch this afternoon. Army sources said sepoy Bishram Surin suffered severe injuries in the right hand. He was immediately rushed to the Army hospital where underwent a surgery. His condition is stated to be stable.

Srinagar
2 girls drowned: Two girls died when a boat carrying them capsized in the Wullar Lake in Bandipore district today. Police sources said the small boat drowned as the weather turned foul and the two girls rowing it could not negotiate the windy condition. The girls were not identified till the filing of the report. Police sources added they had recovered the body of one of the girls, while the other one was still to be traced.

Sheep population: The sheep population has reached 2.40 lakh in the Bandipora district of north Kashmir where the mutton production has gone up to 9.13 lakh kg and wool 3.23 lakh kg. An official spokesman said on Thursday that to boost the sheep husbandry department, Rs 18.84 lakh were being utilised during the current fiscal. He said the sheep population had reached up to 2.40 lakh in the district, while the mutton and wool production had gone up to 9.13 and 3.23 lakh kg, respectively. Similarly 1.47 lakh crossbred sheep population had been registered in the district. He said 45 sheep extension centres and five first aid centres were providing medicare facilities to sheeps in the district.

Tourist dies: A woman tourist died after she fell from a hotel building on the banks of the Dal Lake on Thursday. A police spokesman said Sona Bhai, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, fell down from the window of a hotel at Gagribal. Sona was rushed to the hospital where she was declared brought dead. It was not immediately known how Sona fell from the top floor of the three-storeyed hotel. A case has been registered. In another accident, Khadim Bashir (11) was drowned in a river at Guzhama in Ganderbal district. Khadim was taking bath in the Sindh river when he got drowned. Efforts were on to fish out his body.

Ksharasutra therapy: Chief secretary S.S. Kapur on Thursday called for synergy between the allopathic and AYUSH systems of medicine. Inaugurating a national workshop on “Ksharasutra” therapy at the SKICC here, Kapur said Ksharasutra was evolving as an effective technique in the treatment of ano-rectal disorders with 97 per cent success rate. He said the para surgical procedure was cost-effective and safe with no chances of incontinence and recurrence. The therapy was an effective technique in the treatment of piles, fistula and anal fissures, Kapur said. S.K. Sharma, advisor, AYUSH, Union ministry of health and family welfare, said the technique was being effectively practised in premier health institutions like the AIIMS, PGI, and Madras Medical College on a trial-basis.

Khadi board holds workshop: The Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) on Thursday organised a workshop in Kulgam district to create awareness about various schemes being implemented by the board. It was also informed that the board would provide all assistance, including financial credit bank loan and training to entrepreneurs. Besides, a bank loan up to Rs 26 lakh would also be provided for setting up a sustainable project in the area. G.N. Naik, member, KVIB, was the chief guest on the occasion. R.C. Sharma, secretary, KVIB, and other senior officers of the board were also present.