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PUNJAB

Amritsar
Saplings planted: The Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) planted the saplings of various trees at Canal colonies under the tree plantation drive. Daljit Singh Kohli, vice-president of the AVM, said the plants were brought from the Red Cross Society.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bankers Club here: President - V.M. Uppadhayay, DGM, Punjab National Bank; senior vice-presidents - A.S. Narang of Punjab and Sind Bank and S.N. Chopra of the Oriental Bank of Commerce; vice-presidents - V.S. Katochh of the Central Bank of India, Anil Jain and Gurjit Singh of the Union Bank of India; secretary - K.P. Sharma, SBI; financial secretary - H.S. Sandhu, Bank of Baroda; and joint secretary - R.S. Chatha, Punjab National Bank.

Plantation drive: Impact Projects Private Ltd (IPPL), a company of Impact Group, is planning to plant a large number of aromatic and ornamental plants in Galliara around the Golden Temple. Company’s CEO K.S. Bajwa said they would plant 25,000 saplings in their colonies too.

Batala
MC chief elected: SAD-BJP councillor Balwinder Kaur and Congress councillor Gurnam Singh were elected president and vice-president, respectively of the Quadian municipal council. The elections were held at Government Polytechnic College on Tuesday.

Scooter stolen: A Honda Eterno scooter (PB-57A-4412) was stolen from outside the main branch of the State Bank of India, Dera Road, here on Tuesday. Sunandan Mittal, the owner of the scooter, went inside the bank for depositing some cash. After five minutes when he came back, he found his scooter stolen. A complaint has been registered.

Bathinda
Criticised: Activists of the National Federation of Telecom Employees Union (NFTEU) of BSNL employees held a meeting on Tuesday, where the proposal of union government to merge the Indian Telephone Industry (ITI) with the BSNL was criticised. In a press release, district secretary of the union Surjeet Singh Sodhi said the ITI was already reeling under the loss of Rs 3000 crore and if it was to be merged with BSNL, the loss would be transferred as well. He added that if the proposal was not withdrawn, the union would intensify the struggle.

Competition: To create awareness among the mothers, the Adesh Hospital, Bhalaiana village, district Muktsar, organised a competition with regard to health-related issues of the children at the village, Jagjit Singh, CMO, Rural Training Health Centre, Bhalaiana, said in a press release. In the competition, Manveer Kaur, Arshveer Kaur and Mehak Preet Kaur stood first, second and third respectively.

Fazilka
Cheques distributed: BJP state vice-president and local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani distributed cheques to 54 beneficiaries of Shagun Scheme at local Canal Rest House here today. Jyani said that all those applicants eligible for Shagun scheme who had applied till December have been distributed Rs 15,000 each. They belonged to village Jandwala Mira Sangla, Dangar Khera, Katehra, Nawan Mumbeki, Hasta Kalan, Hiranwali, Karnikhera, Patrewala, Kotha Thangni and Dhingra Colony Kailash Nagar, Jattain Mohalla, Anadpur Mohalla and Nai Abadi localities of town.

Hoshiarpur
Jewellery shop burgled: Some miscreants stole gold ornaments worth Rs 4.5 lakh from a jewellery shop at Old Bazar, Dasuya, on Monday night. According to police sources, the owner of the shop Sanjiv Kumar, resident of Mohalla Kainthan, closed his shop last night. When he went to open his shop in the morning, he found the locks of the shutter broken and the gold ornaments lying in the shop missing.

MOHALI
Conference of civil surgeons: A conference of civil surgeons of all 20 districts of Punjab, programme officers, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) officers and other senior functionaries of the Health Department was chaired on Sunday by Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla, health and family welfare minister, Punjab. Satish Chandra, director, NRHM, and Tilak R. Sarangal, managing director, PHSC, were also present. Professor Chawla reviewed the functioning of government health institutions and discussed improvement in the working. She asked the civil surgeons to recommend names of exceptionally performing doctors and paramedics of their districts to
honour them. She also asked them to survey and report about the doctors doing private practice.

PATHANKOT
In-laws booked: The Sujanpur police booked four persons under Sections 304-B, IPC, here on Tuesday. Complaintant Shanti Devi of Amritsar alleged in a complaint to the police that her daughter Jyoti was married to Mohan Lal of Modhopur Kulian three years ago and was forced to bring more dowry by her in-laws. She further alleged that on Monday members of her in-laws gave poison to her following which she was admitted to the Civil Hospital here where she died. SP Harpreet Singh said the police had booked Mohan Lal husband of the deceased and her sister-in-law Veena, mother in-law Ratno Devi and Father in law Som Raj.

TARN TARAN
Rape case: Nirmal Singh, alias Nimma, youth of Naurangabad village, 8 km from here, has been booked by the Sadar Police under Sections 342 and 376, IPC, for allegedly raping a teenaged girl of the same village. Police sources said here on Tuesday that the victim in her compflaint alleged that the accused forcibly took her to an abandoned house in the village when she had gone last night to purchase something from a kiryana shop. The victim was medically examined at the local Civil Hospital. The accused is absconding.

CHANDIGARH

Panchkula
Man run over by tractor: Mohinder (26) was killed when an unidentified tractor lost control at Industrial Area, Phase I here this morning. Mohinder, who was a worker in a factory at Industrial Area, Phase I, was on his way, when the hook of the tractor broke at the turning point. He was crushed under the tractor that turned turtle. Factory owner Om prakash registered a complaint in this regard.

HARYANA

CHANDIGARH
HUDA plots: The draw of lots for residential plots in HUDA, Sector 3 (Part-II), Fatehabad, will be held at HUDA office complex, Sector 13, Hisar, on August 6 at 10 am. A spokesman for the HUDA here on Tuesday said the registration cards of all eligible applicants had already been despatched. Applicants could file their objections and claims by August 4. After this date, no objection or claim would be entertained. He said the application forms of those applicants who applied for more than one plot had been cancelled and their application money was being refunded.

JIND
Six arrested: The police has arrested six persons on the charge of attempt to murder. According to the complainant, Ram Kumar, some persons forcibly tried to grab his land and also fired at his family members near Maingalpur village in the district a couple of days ago. The arrested have been identified as Jagbir, Mahender, Sandeep, Amit, Rajender and Rajesh.

KAITHAL
Missing boy traced: Sumit, a student of Jawahar Navodya Vidyalya here, missing since July 14, has been traced in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The school authorities informed the boy’s parents on July 14 that their son was missing from the school. The boy was said to be seen in Jodhpur with a sadhu. The police left for Jodhpur.

Kalka
Boy killed in road accident: Surjit Singh, alias Sonu (18), a resident of the local Railway Colony, was killed today in a road mishap. The accident took place at around 10 am on the National Highway-22, near the DSP’s office here.

REWARI
4 motorcycles recovered: The CIA police has recovered four stolen motorcycles from Maninder (21) of Shyampura village in Mahendergarh district. He reportedly stole the motorcycles from city areas here recently. Maninder, who was recently arrested by the Bhiwani police, was brought here on July 26 on production warrant. Maninder, who was wanted in several criminal cases in Mahendergarh, was taken to Mahendergarh by the police on Tuesday.

SIRSA
Blood donation camp: The Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA) on Monday organised a blood donation camp in the local Air Force Station with the collaboration of the Shiv Shakti Blood Bank. Mini Bedi, chairperson of the local chapter of the AFWWA, inaugurated the camp.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
Tight security at Baba Balak Nath shrine: The police has beefed up security at the Baba Balak Nath shrine in the wake of terrorist attacks in the country. The number of pilgrims during this time of the year is very high here. Asif Jalal, SP, Hamirpur, said, “We have installed a metal detector at the entrance of the shrine and deployed additional force to increase vigil at the temple.”

SHIMLA
N. Venugopal is Solan SP: Ordering a minor modification in the transfers and postings of three IPS officers, the government on Tuesday posted N. Venugopal as the Superintendent of Police (SP), Solan. In the earlier orders issued on July 25, Venugopal was posted as Commandant 4th India Reserve Battalion (IRB), Jungale Beri, Hamirpur. Verma, has been posted as the district police chief of Sirmaur. J.P. Singh, SP, Sirmaur, has been posted as Commandant 4th IRB, Jungale Beri, Hamirpur.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

SRINAGAR
1 dies, 9 hurt in mishaps: A 13-year-old boy was killed and nine were injured in the Kashmir valley on Monday. A vehicle hit and critically wounded Rohil Kumar at Bandi Baramulla in north Kashmir. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he was declared brought dead. Four persons were injured when their vehicle dashed against a tree at Pattan on the Srinagar-Baramulla road. In another incident, a car hit and wounded a boy at Gulmarg while two persons, including a driver, were injured when two vehicles collided at Batakote in Anantnag.

Huge quantity of fuki seized: The police on Tuesday seized a huge quantity of fuki, a rare variety of charas, and some medicines in Budgam district. Acting on a tip-off, a police party raided the Chadoora area in central Kashmir and seized several quintals of fuki and a large number of capsules used as drugs, a police spokesman said. A case had been registered and efforts were on to apprehend the culprits.

Pilgrim dies: A 36-year-old pilgrim died on the way to Amarnath shrine, raising the death toll in the annual pilgrimage to 62, official sources said on Tuesday. The pilgrim, identified as Ranbir Singh from Haryana, died of cardiac arrest at Sangam on the 12-km Baltal route passing through Ganderbal district on Monday. While 58 pilgrims and a BSF jawan died of natural causes during the series of trips that began on June 17 this year, three others died in separate accidents en route to the cave.

One hurt in bear attack: A wild bear attacked and critically injured a person in Anantnag district on Tuesday. Juma Khan of Narsar-Chittergul village was attacked by a black bear in his field in south Kashmir, a police spokesman said. He said the injured was rushed to a hospital where his condition was stated to be critical. The bear escaped into the nearby forest as people came out of their houses on hearing the cries of Khan.

Arms seized: On a tipoff, troops busted a hideout in the Chatral area of Poonch district and seized three grenades, five hand grenades, five anti-personnel mines, five detonators, two IED firing mechanisms, one radio set, assorted ammunition and other war-like miscellaneous items, One more hideout was busted by troops in the Basha Deol area in Reasi district and seized one tank and some eatables.