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Regional potpourri

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Sports tourney: The 10th Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School Sports Tournament was inaugurated by minister of sports and animal husbandry Gulzar Singh Ranike here on Saturday. More than 2,500 students from 25 schools located in various parts of the state, including Ludhiana, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, Patti, Anandpur Sahib and other cities, would participate in the two-day tournament.

Batala
New member: Senior youth Congress leader Amardeep Singh Cheema has been appointed member of the state advisory committee of programs for youth under the auspices of Nehru Yuva Kendra, Punjab. A known social worker and a youth leader is already a decorated member of the 11th five year plan of agriculture working group of the planning commission of India.

Fazilka
Migrant labourer dies: A migrant labourer, Joginder Manjhi (20) died while working at a construction site at the railway crossing on the Fazilka-Ferozepur road on Malout chowk. According to sources, he was working in a pit for raising a pillar for the flyover. Suddenly, a big portion of the earth caved in and he was buried beneath. The other labourers rushed to rescue him and pulled him out of the pit in a critical condition. He was immediately rushed to the civil hospital where he succumbed to his injuries after a short while. A native of village Neema in Bihar, Joginder was working for a private flyover construction company.

Mansa
Speedy procurement sought: The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) has expressed concern over the slow lifting and procuring of paddy at various purchasing centres in the district. Ram Singh Bhaini Bagha, district president of the union, said that lifting was very slow at many purchasing centres, including Bhaini Bagha, Tammkot, Ralla, Jogga, Jhabbar, Akalian, Alisher and Chakerian. He said that farmers had been facing the problem of space in the markets due to slow lifting. He alleged that some truck owners were not paid in full for the last season so they were avoiding getting associated with lifting.

Ex-newspaper agent dies: Sohan Lal, who had been a newspaper agent at Mansa, passed away after prolonged illness. He was cremated here today. He is survived by his wife, daughter and a son. Sohan had been living in Ghaziabad for the last few years.

NABHA
Singer Harjit Harman’s wife dies: Sandeep Kaur (30), wife of popular Punjabi singer Harjit Harman of “Mitran da naa chalda...”, died at her Hira Mahal residence here on Sunday morning. She is survived by a daughter (6) and son (4). She was cremated at Doda village, 10 km from here. People from all walks of life attended her cremation.

Qadian (Gurdaspur)
Eye camp: As many as 400 patients suffering from various eye ailments were examined on the first day of three-day free eye checkup camp, which was started here by Majlis Khudam-Ul-Ahmadiyya Bharat. Maulana Mohammad Inaam Ghauri, chief secretary, Ahmadiyya Jamat Bharat, inaugurated the camp at a local hospital.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
Fire in newspaper offices: The offices of two vernacular newspapers were gutted in a fire reportedly due to short-circuit here on Sunday. An office of an advocate adjacent to them was also damaged in the incident. The three offices were located in the basement of Bagga Bhawan on NH-5. The fire was brought under control by the Haryana Fire Brigade Service. Two vehicles of the Fire Brigade Service were pressed into service to control the fire.

JHAJJAR
Paddy compensation: Vice-president of the Haryana Janhit Congress and former minister Krishan Murti Hooda said if the state government failed to announce appropriate paddy compensation for the affected farmers till November 15, workers of the HJC would not hesitate to gherao Haryana Chief Minister. Talking to mediapersons in Bahadurgarh town, he said farmers of the state had faced heavy losses due to a mysterious disease, which destroyed paddy at a large scale in the state. The state government had neither announced paddy compensation nor chalked out any plan to pay relief to the affected farmers.

KARNAL
Six arrested: The police nabbed six persons, including three women, on the charge of immoral trafficking from a house in Rajiv Puram here on Friday. A police team raided the house and caught five persons red-handed. Police sources confirmed that two women and two men were arrested red-handed in compromising position while Santosh, in whose house the racket was being run, fled the spot. However, she was arrested by the police later. The accused were produced before the court of the Duty Magistrate, who sent them to a 14-day judicial custody. Santosh was arrested earlier also on similar charges but was later let off.

KURUKSHETRA
Mediation centres: Nine mediation and conciliation centres will be established in Haryana from November 8 to settle the disputes speedily. The centers are being set up under the guidance of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and under the aegis of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority. Judicial Magistrate Narender Sharma on Sunday said the local mediation and conciliation centre would be inaugurated by District and Sessions Judge R.C. Bansal on the premises of district judicial complex here on November 8. Sharma said the judicial officers and advocates concerned had received specialised training in mediation and conciliation. Besides Kurukshetra district, mediation and conciliation centres in 8 other districts comprising Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jind, Karnal, Rewari, Rohtak and Sonepat would be established, he added.

SONEPAT
20 sheds of mushroom crop gutted: As many as 20 sheds of mushroom crop were gutted in a fire at Aterna village here on Saturday. The fire had engulfed all sheds before fire tenders could reach the spot. It took around two hours to control the fire. Ten sheds belonged to Rajinder, eight to Somvir and two sheds belonged to a farmer, Kapil. A loss of Rs 20 lakh has been reported. The fire reportedly broke out in one shed and later it spread to other sheds.

Timings fixed: To cope up with heavy arrivals of paddy and delay in lifting up the purchased stock of bajra from the new anaj mandi of Gohana, the authorities have fixed the timings for the entry of paddy-loaded vehicles in the market. On the directions of Gohana SDM Jaideep Kumar, secretary of the Marketing Committee Jeet Singh Dahiya has fixed 5 am to 5 pm for entry of loaded vehicles and 5.30 pm to 4.30 am for lifting of the purchased stock.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
Anganwari appointments: The Anganwari Action Committee, Nurpur subdivision, has rejected the ongoing inquiry into the appointments of anganwari workers and helpers and demanded that the probe should be conducted by a retired judge of the high court. Asha Kumari, president of the committee, has urged the government to give justice to the aggrieved women candidates who had filed appeals against these appointments within 10 days. In case the government failed to do so, members of committee would stage a dharna in front of the office of the SDM. She said the inquiry by the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Kangra, was only an eyewash. Only a high-level probe could expose the irregularities in these appointments, she said.

SHIMLA
Govt decision hailed: The state paragliding and hang gliding association has hailed the decision of the government to sanction Rs 4.28 crore for developing Bir-Billing as an international paragliding destination. Expressing gratitude to Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal for paying attention to the neglected aero-sports activities, the association pointed out that Billing was one undoubtedly on of the best natural sties for paragliding and hang gilding, but it lacked world-class infrastructure. With the availability of funds, it would be possible to make necessary improvements for smooth conduct of international competitions, it said.

Shepherd killed: A shepherd was killed and another injured when they lost their way in the darkness on Saturday night and fell down from a hill at Chirgon near Rohru, the police said here on Sunday. The local people found them in the jungles on Sunday morning. The injured shepherd, Muni Lal, who was admitted to the IGMC, told the police that he and his friend had fallen from a hill. The deceased was identified as Shivlal Nand.

Room gutted: A room of a double storeyed building was reduced to ashes after a fire broke out in Anti village of Jubbal subdivision in this district on Saturday, the police said here on Sunday. The fire broke out due to short circuit and gutted a room of the residential house belonging to Suni. A number of household articles were reduced to ashes in the fire. The local people brought the flames under control before the fire tenders could arrive. The estimated loss of property was around Rs 2 lakh.

One arrested: One person carrying illicit liquor was arrested by the police in the town on Saturday evening, the police said here on Sunday. Police sources said the accused was nabbed when he was carrying the country liquor near Gohra Hospital on the Cartroad. The accused was identified as Kuldeep Kumar, a local resident. Ten bottles of country liquor were recovered form his possession by the police.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
6 hurt in group clash: Six gujjars were injured in a clash that occurred between two groups in Jammu on Sunday. Official sources said the clash took place between two groups over the issue of distribution of husk at the Maralian area of Miran Sahib in Jammu district. Both the groups attacked each other with sharp-edged weapons and six persons sustained injures. The injured were shifted to the R.S. Pura hospital from where two seriously injured were shifted to the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital.

Drug peddler held: Javed Bhatti, a drug peddler, was arrested and brown sugar worth Rs 50 lakh was recovered from his possession in Poonch district on Sunday. Police sources said they recovered 500 gm brown sugar worth from Javed in Poonch district. A case has been registered.

SRINAGAR
Two hurt, 2 houses gutted: Two persons, including a CRPF personnel, were injured, while two houses were gutted in the Kashmir valley on Sunday. Official sources said a scooterist, Mohammad Yousuf Gojri, was injured when he was hit by an Army vehicle at Agri Kalan Magam in Budgam district. He was later hospitalised. Later, residents of the area protested against the incident and demanded the driver’s arrest. A CRPF jawan was injured when two vehicles collided at Gund near the 118 Battalion camp. The injured was hospitalised. Meanwhile, two houses were gutted in a fire at Keegam village in Kupwara district. The cause of the fire was being ascertained.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Tributes paid to Kesari Chand on birth anniversary: On the occasion of the 89th birth anniversary of Kesari Chand of the Indian National Army, leaders of different political parties including Speaker of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly Harbans Kapoor, BJP MLA Munna Singh Chauhan, senior Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana, national general secretary of Samajwadi Party Vinod Bharthwal and president of zila panchayat Madhu Chauhan paid floral tributes to Kesari Chand.

Art feast for Doonites: A veritable art feast awaits denizens of Doon who can look forward to an art exhibition to be held from November 4 to 6 at Reagent Hotel. The exhibition is being organised by Doon Art Society to mark the statehood of Uttarakhand. Altogether 70 paintings will be on display of artists experimenting with different mediums. “The exhibition will include water colour, acrylic, photographs on canvas, clay, terracotta work and graphic art,” informed Threesh Kapoor, adviser, Doon Art Society.

Physical test for SI post: Physical test of the candidates for direct recruitment as Sub Inspector in Uttarakhand Police continued on second day at Police Lines. The test was conducted under the supervision of SP (Rural), Karan Singh Nagayanal. According to the police officials, 560 candidates were found fit, while 129 candidates were unfit and 208 remained absent. The tests of at least 800 candidates were conducted on Sunday. There was much enthusiasm among the competitors who did their best to outdo one another.

Regional potpourri

Sacrificing personal comfort for friend’s sake

Priyanka Chaudhary

Winning gold medal third time in a row in national sub junior boxing championship did not give her the happiness and satisfaction that came her way, when she gave her scholarship money to help another girl who used to play with her and now has been battling against cancer.

Priyanka Chaudhary, a student of class XI of Maharaja Agarsen senior secondary school in Sirsa town in Haryana has been winning gold medal in her category in the sub-junior national boxing championship for three years in a row. She was informed by the authorities that she had won scholarship of Rs 30, 000 for her feat this year.

Like any other of her age Priyanka started planning how to spend her scholarship money.

After deliberation with her friends and family members, the young boxer decided to buy a motorcycle with her father Kulwant Singh Chaudhary agreeing to give her the remaining Rs 30,000 needed for the bike. As the day of getting the scholarship was drawing near, Priyanka was excited at having a motorcycle.

But, before the date to receive the scholarship arrived, she , on reading a news in The Tribune, learnt about the plight of Megha Bhardwaj, who once played with her at the national level and now was suffering from cancer.

Priyanka learnt that Megha's parents were finding it tough to manage the wherewithal for the treatment of their daughter.

Megha's father Dinesh Bhardwaj had lost his job in a private firm and sold his plot while her mother Meenu had sold her jewellery to meet expenses for the treatment of their daughter.

She disclosed her intention of donating the scholarship money for the treatment of Megha Bhardwaj to her father, who appreciated it .

"I was surprised when Priyanka made her intention known to me and when I asked her about her plans to purchase a motorcycle , she said she would make do with a bicycle," says Kulwant Singh Chaudhary about his daughter's sacrifice.

She eventually delivered the scholarship money to Megha on October 17, as soon as she received it.

"Megha's need is much greater than mine," was Priyanka's reply.

Contributed by Sushil Manav