The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

Abohar
Dara wins mono-acting contest: Dara Singh of Government High School village Kerakhera and Ramandeep Kaur of Singh Sabha Secondary School won first and second positions respectively in the mono-acting competition that was organised as part of the Bal Diwas celebrations by the Teachers Club at Divine Light Public School here on Monday. Adarsh Kataria was the chief guest on the occasion. In the skit competition, Amrit Model School team was adjudged best while second position was won by Maya Devi Memorial Public School village Kerakhera, Chetan Parkash Bulandi secretary of the club informed.

Cheque given away: Former legislator, Ram Kumar Goyal, on Monday handed over a cheque of Rs 2 lakh to Jagjit Singh Sidhu, president and other office-bearers of the Tonk Kshatriya Sabha here at the concluding function of three days Baba Naam Dev Prakash Utsav and Gurta Gaddi celebrations. The grant had been released by Zora Singh Mann from the MP Local Area Development Fund for the construction of a community hall in the Naam Dev Dharamshala. Former mandal BJP president and councilor Ravi Makkar also announced contributions in personal capacity.

Woman dies: Asha Rani (35), wife of Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Ram Dev Nagrari, died during treatment at the civil hospital on Sunday night, sources said. Sources added that she had reportedly consumed some poisonous substance in the morning and was rushed to the hospital. She is survived by five children also.

Science exhibition: LRS DAV Senior Secondary School clinched most of the prizes in the science exhibition that was organised by the RB DAV Public School, principal Kusum Khungar informed on Monday. Toppers in different categories and streams included Nishtha Wadhwa, Siddhartha, Gauri Munjal, Vidushi Gilhotra, Vishal, Joginder, Saumaya Jain, Gunjan, Palak Midha, Shayina and Khushbu.

Students honoured: Poonam Gangparia and Pankaj Kumar were felicitated at the DAV College of Education here for winning silver and bronze medals in 200 meter, 100 meter race, long jump and high jump during the annual athletics meet organised by the Panjab University recently, principal Venita Singh informed on Monday. She also complimented physical education teacher Amanpreet Kaur on this success.

Audio-visual exhibition: An audio-visual exhibition was organised at the Kenway College of Education here to display the charts and models prepared by the students besides acquainting him with the latest trends to make teaching more interesting and useful, vice-principal Sushila Narang said.

Amritsar
Intoxicants seized: A team of health officials seized a huge quantity of intoxicant and habit-forming drugs from two unlicensed drug godowns in the Katra Sher Singh area in walled city here on Saturday evening. The two stores were sealed by the department. The drugs belong to Amit Chopra and Vijay Kumar of Ranjit Avenue and 100-Foot Road here, respectively, who had made the godowns in rented buildings in the congested area of Katra Sher Singh.The seized drugs include more than four lakh capsules and tablets, including Promodex, Microlit, Subanol and Pyrevonspas manufactured by Micro Pharmaceutical in Gujarat and Maiden Pharmaceutical in Kundli, Haryana.

Barnala
Eye check-up camp: Nearly 540 patients were treated for various eye ailments at the 17th free eye camp held at Sri Brahm Sagar Ji Kutia, Jhallor, about 13 Km from here on Monday. The camp was organised under the supervision of civil surgeon Dr Surinder Mohan Singh Sidhu. M.L. Sharma, director social welfare, applauded the work of the organisation and its contribution in the field of education and health sector.

CHANDIGARH
Govt push to agro-forestry: The Punjab Forest Department has decided to give a push to agro-forestry in the state by distributing 10 lakh seedlings of fast-growing and economically important tree species such as eucalyptus, shisham and drek. Disclosing this here on Sunday, forest minister Tikshan Sud said to achieve the target of 15 per cent forest cover in the state by 2011, it had been decided to adopt a new scientific-clone technology for mass production of seedlings. The department had established high-tech mist chambers at Hoshairpur, Gurdaspur, Amrtisar, Ropar, Moga, Phillaur and Bathinda.

Allowance enhanced: The Punjab government has enhanced the current allowance from Rs 600 to Rs 1,200 per child per month for visually handicapped children of the blind school, Jamalpur, situated in Ludhiana district. Disclosing this here on Monday, Ch Swarna Ram, minister for Social Security and Welfare of Women and Child Development, Punjab, said Rs 40-lakh Braille press, library and digital studio had been set up in the institute for the welfare of blind students.

Mansa
Unions stage dharna: Employees organizations on Monday staged a dharna at Mansa in support of their demands. The leaders of the employees said that Punjab Pay Commission should adopt the pro-employee attitude. The leaders who spoke in the dharna included Sikander Singh Dhaliwal, Sukhdarshan Singh Natt , Jaspal Khokhar, Atma Singh Atma, Jagseer Singh, Charanjeet Dhalewan and others.

Nawanshahr
Book released: The director-general, school education, Punjab, Krishan Kumar, released a book, “In search of water,” authored by Narinder Kumar Bhangu, a school lecturer in the district, at his office in Chandigarh on Friday.District education officer PC Gupta was also present on the occasion.

PATHANKOT
Bomb found near rly stn: A bomb was found abandoned on a garbage dump near the outer gate of railway station here on Saturday. A police team, led by SP Harpreet Singh and DSP Karamjit Singh, reached the spot and cordoned off the area. Though a team of Army officials also reached the spot, the bomb was not defused. Police sources said Army authorities refused to pick up the bomb as they said it could be defused only after the Ministry of Home Affairs gave consent. A bomb disposal squad of the Punjab Police was coming from Jalandhar to defuse it. Preliminary investigation said the bomb had been thrown there by some scrap dealer. A case had been registered at the GRP police station.

Bridge on Ravi: A 572-meter long bridge, connecting Darban village to Basohli, will be constructed on Ravi at a cost of Rs 200 crore. Disclosing this today, Punjab transport minister Master Mohan Lal said the work would start from March next. With the completion of the project, the distance between two villages would be reduced by more than 11 kms.

Liquor smuggling: The local police today nabbed eight persons, including six women, and recovered illicit liquor from their possession. The accused have been been identified as Krishno Devi, Gogi Devi, Somi Devi, Leelo Devi, Shashi Bala, Rattni Devi, Harwinder Singh and Rakesh Kumar. A case under the excise act has been registered.

HARYANA

CHANDIGARH
Record power generation: The Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) has achieved a record generation of 458.68 lakh units of power in a single day on November 9, which is the highest ever since its formation. A spokesman on Monday said the HPGCL had bettered its own record of power generation of 457.76 lakh units achieved in September by generating around 92,000 more units of electricity in a single day. He further said the HPGCL, on an average, had targeted to contribute 368 lakh units of electricity daily to the state in November.

Paddy arrivals: As much as 33.99 lakh tonnes of paddy has arrived in the mandis of the state during the current kharif season so far. A spokesman for the food and supplies department said out of the total paddy arrival, about 17.59 lakh tonnes had been procured by government agencies at the minimum support price and the remaining about 16.40 lakh tonnes had been purchased by private millers and traders. Kurukshetra district was leading with the arrival of 6,76,294 tonnes of paddy, followed by Karnal with 5,76,701 tonnes. Similarly, 3.31 lakh metric tonnes of bajra has arrived in the mandis of the state during the current kharif season so far.

Independent transformer: To promote energy conservation in the agriculture sector and to ensure reliable power supply to tubewell consumers, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has planned to introduce a novel scheme for farmers by providing an independent distribution transformer. At present, the state supplies almost 50 per cent of the total available electricity daily to the rural sector. There is a potential of saving 25 per cent electricity in the sector by making the existing tubewell systems energy efficient. The nigam has started the process of appointing energy auditors to conduct an investment grade energy efficiency analysis of all tubewell installations. Each tubewell installation will be analysed for energy efficiency.

GURGAON
Man killed in accident: A 30-year-old man died on the spot when a car reportedly hit him near IFFCO Chowk flyover here on Monday. Two others were also injured in the accident. Eyewitnesses said the incident took place when Bahadur and Harpal, who were going to Palam Airport in a van, were changing a punctured tyre on the way. A car coming from Jaipur reportedly hit them killing Bahadur on the spot and injuring Harpal and the car driver. The injured have been admitted to Paras Hospital, DLF. Harpal is said to be serious.

JHAJJAR
8 booked for murder: The police on Monday booked eight persons of Naula village here for allegedly murdering a youth of Jaitpur village. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against Sukhpal, Hemraj, Hardwari, Ashok, Vikram, Prithvi, Vinod and Praveen. The deceased identified as Ramvir along with his friend Bijender was going to Gurgaon on a motorcycle on November 7. As they reached near Naula village, the accused waylaid them and started beating up Ramvir over an old enmity. Ramvir was taken to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

KURUKSHETRA
1 held for stealing cars: The district police has arrested a person for allegedly stealing two cars and 4 LPG cylinders. Additional superintendent of police Mahinder Singh on Monday said the arrested had been identified as Om Prakash, alias Prakasha, a resident of Kaalkha village, Panipat district. He said during interrogation Prakasha told the police that he had stolen the cars from Ambala and Samalkha. He was produced before a local court, which remanded him in judicial custody.

ROHTAK
2 youths held: The police has arrested two youths and recovered three stolen motorcycles from their possession. The motorcycles had been stolen from three places in the district in the past few months. The arrested have been identified as Monu, alias Dharamjit, of Balamba village and Jagdeep of Bahu Akbarpur village of the district. The police has also claimed to have nabbed a person hailing from Bahawar village of the district for stealing a bicycle and a hookah from Khrainti village. Both the items have been recovered.

SIRSA
Car catches fire: A car reportedly caught fire due to a snag in the electrical system of the vehicle on National Highway 10 near Salemkhera village on Monday. The car owner, a Moga-based businessman, Amit Singla had a narrow escape. He was on his way to Hisar from Bathinda, when he noticed smoke emanating from the bonnet. He came out of the car after stopping it and before he could open the bonnet, the vehicle caught fire.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Power cut: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board has decided to keep the electricity supply of 33/11 KV Nakrot power sub-station and 33-KV Koti-Nakrot transmission lines switched off on November 12 and November 14 from 8.30 am to 5 pm. In an official communiqué issued here on Monday, an official spokesman of the HPSEB said this decision had been taken in view of laying the 132 KV Kurthla-Bathri power transmission lines. The electricity consumers getting power supply from 33/11 KV Nakrot power sub-station and 33-KV Koti-Nakrot transmission lines had been appealed to extend their cooperation in the execution of laying the transmission lines; the communiqué further said.

HAMIRPUR
Contact programme: The Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on Monday started a new voters contact programme in Hamirpur district on the call of national body of the organisation. Giving information about the programme, state vice-president of the BJYM Narender Attri said the main purpose of this campaign is to reach thousands of new voters who would be voting for the first time in the coming Lok Sabha elections. It will also organise a convention for this purpose on November 15 at Bachat Bhawan, Hamirpur.

KANGRA
Woman commits suicide: A woman allegedly committed suicide on Monday by consuming poison at her residence in Dharkata village. The police said Arti Devi (30) was married at Dharkata village eight years back and had two children. He said this morning the victim entered her kitchen and consumed some poison and was rushed to the Civil Hospital at Kangra by her in-laws where she died. The body was sent for a post-mortem and was cremated by her in-laws later in the day. He said the victim and her husband Kuldeep had cordial relations and there had been no complaint regarding their relations received either by the panchayat or by the police so far. He said the parents of the victim too have not lodged any complaint against her husband or in-laws.

KUMARHATTI
Appointment ‘legal’: While terming his appointment as legal, president of the state INTUC G.K. Mehta has turned down anti-claims of his rival group on his appointment as being baseless. He asserted that 3,000 representatives of the INTUC from all over the state have elected him. The new executive committee of the INTUC was elected on Saturday at Baddi. While the rival group led by Hardeep Bawa, son of former INTUC president late Amarjit Bawa, has elected its own executive committee by holding a parallel conference at Kullu.

NURPUR
Villages adopted: The Himachal Gramin Bank (HGB) has adopted Suliali and Nera villages of this subdivision for bailing out residents from the clutches of private and unauthorised moneylenders. Regional manager of the HBG G.H. Mann while presiding over a loan distribution-cum-farmers seminar at Suliali on Monday said the bank had adopted these villages under the directions of Finance Ministry. He informed that beneficiary families would be identified within one month and would be given loans for repaying their dues to private moneylenders.

DEHRADUN

DEHRADUN
Cops to identify illegal migrants: The IG Garhwal Ashok Kumar on Monday convened a meeting of top police officials and directed the cops to ensure speedy identification of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, and to take strict action against those indulging in eve- teasing. The IG also reviewed the traffic situation of the district and directed the circle officer (Traffic) to ensure smooth flow of traffic in Dehradun. SSP Dehradun Amit Kumar Sinha, SP (City) Pushpak Jyoti and SP (Rural) Karan Singh Nangyal attended the meeting.

Traders upset at rising prices: The state convener of BJP Vyapaar Cell Vijay Prakash today convened a meeting of state office-bearers of the cell. Addressing the party activists, he said that business community is disturbed over the sky rocketing prices. He also said that union government was paying no attention towards solving the problems being faced by the business community.

Haridwar
Museum for martyrs sought: Congress activists and workers of Nayi Disha Apna Manch organised a candle march here to demand a museum where portraits, books on Uttarakhand movement and other things of Uttarakhand statehood agitation martyrs could be put as a tribute to them. Congress leader Sanjay Chopra said that the museum will help the new generation to know about the martyrs and their struggle.

RLD to contest Haridwar seat: The city unit of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is planning to put a candidate from the Valmiki samaj for the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat. RLD’s state spokesman Mukesh Kumar Kashyap said that a delegation will meet RLD chief Chaudhari Ajit Singh in Delhi in this regard. He added that a party meeting will be called soon to start work on the forthcoming general elections.