R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

KHANNA
Declamation contest: A declamation contest was held yesterday at A.S. College for Women. Ravinder, a student of BA (I) was declared the best speaker. He spoke on ‘Dharmyodha Guru Gobind Singh’. As many as 700 students of various streams attended the function besides the college faculty and others.

Mansa
CPI demands transparency: The CPI (ML) has demanded that the Special Economic Zone Act should be transparent and the agreements which were passed by the Punjab government with industrialists should be made public. Issuing a statement here, state secretary of the party Rajwinder Singh Rana said they were not against industrialisation but it should be in the interest of common people. He further said that 80 per cent jobs should be fixed for the youth of the state. “Agro-based industries should be preferred and useless land should be acquired at reasonable price to establish industries,” Rana said. 

Nawanshahr
Two injured in road mishap: Harmesh Singh of Jethumazara village and Shakeer of Chhokeran village were injured in a road accident on the Nawanshahr-Chandigarh road here on Friday. As per the information, a Safari vehicle which was on its way to Chandigarh, in a bid to save a scooterist, hit a cyclist near Cargo Motors. While Harmesh Lal, who was riding the scooter, was admitted to a private hospital and cyclist Shakeer was sent to the local civil hospital. 

Non-payment of salaries: Resentment prevails among the lecturers and teachers who have recently been promoted or transferred under the rationalisation policy by the state government as they had not been paid their salaries for the past three months. Democratic teachers front state president Bhupinder Singh Warraich and district president of GTU Prem Rakker, in separate press statements have urged the authorities concerned to release the salaries. 

HARYANA

SONEPAT
Legal aid to Malegaon accused: Throwing its weight behind the Malegaon blast accused, including sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a group of advocates here have set up a 17-member lawyers’ committee for providing legal assistance to them. Stating that the Hindu Unification Movement Legal and Welfare Association (HMLA) will provide legal assistance to the sadhvi and other accused, Bhupeshwar Dayal Gaur, a founder member of the association, here on Friday said the committee comprises 12 lawyers from the town alone. He said the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police, conducting a probe into the September 29 blast, had already collected information about the association. Dayal alleged that he was pressurised by the ATS officials to not provide any legal assistance to Pragya and other accused. 

Helmet unit gutted: A helmet manufacturing unit was gutted in a fire caused by short circuit in the industrial area here on Friday, the police said. The fire was noticed around 4 am by an employee of the factory, who informed its owner immediately. The owner in turn informed the officials of the municipal fire brigade. The fire was brought under control by three fire tenders around 7 am. The manufactured helmets are supplied to the Indian Army and the police. The loss is still being ascertained by the owner of the factory. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHAN
1 killed in accident: One person was reportedly killed in two separate accidents. Attar Singh, a resident of Dehradun, was reportedly killed on the spot on Thursday when the truck he was driving fell into a deep gorge, near Kali Dhang, on the Paonta-Shillai road. The ill-fated truck (HP 17 - 4299) was on its way to Kamrou from Sataun. In another accident, a truck loaded with pipes fell into a deep trench at the main curve in Sataun on Friday. However, when the truck went out of control, its driver and conductor reportedly jumped out of the truck to save their lives.

Work disrupted: Implementing its decisions taken on Thursday at the meeting, which held at Kubja Sarai in Renuka ji, the workers of Renuka Dam Jan Sangharsh Samiti on Friday protested at Batana and stopped the construction work of an inspection path of the Renuka Dam, near Batana tunnel. Construction contractor Vinod Kumar confirmed that he was forced to stop construction work by the agitators of the samiti today. Meanwhile, the dam authorities have expressed will to discuss matter with the samiti. 

NURPUR
Case registered: The police on Thursday registered a case against Swaran Singh of Sukhar village for allegedly kidnapping a minor girl of the same village. DSP Bidhi Chand Verma said Bishamber Singh, father of the victim, had stated in his complaint that his daughter (17) did not return from school on November 17. He suspected that the accused had allegedly kidnapped her with some ulterior motive. A case under Sections 363 and 366 has been registered against the suspect. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Poster making contest: A poster making competition was held at Jammu University in which several students from different departments and affiliated colleges participated. Arjun Manhas of GGM Science College got the first prize. Suhani Kotwal of Law School and Bazila Farhat bagged the second and third positions, respectively. Meenakshi from the Psychology Department, Komal from Government College for Women, Parade, and Mona from MAM College were awarded certificates of merit.

Snowfall in Patnitop: The hill resort of Patnitop and the lower reaches of Pir Panjal ranges in Jammu and Kashmir experienced the season’s first snowfall. There was snowfall at Patnitop, Sanasar, Seojdhar (Bhaderwah), Shigarh Dhara, Kaliash and Nathatop area and lower reaches of Pir Panjal ranges in Jammu region during the night, the meteorological department said on Friday. It rained during the night in the plains of Udhampur, Reasi and Ramban districts, resulting in a fall in both maximum and minimum temperatures, it said. 

Trade union chief resigns: The working president of the J&K Trade Union Congress on Friday resigned and joined the Jammu State Morcha, which advocates statehood for the Jammu region. “I have joined the JSM to contest elections in Jammu over the slogan of separate statehood,” said Swaran Singh, alleging that the Congress has done little for Jammu, which is still being discriminated against. 

Rajouri
Haj pilgrims to miss polls: More than 300 people from Rajouri district, who are going to undertake 40-day-long Haj pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina, will not be able to cast their vote during the second phase of elections on November 23. Majority of the pilgrims left for Srinagar today, from where they will board a flight for Saudi Arabia on the day of voting. On November 13, 97 pilgrims left for the holy journey. 

SrinagaR
Missing girl’s body recovered: Panic gripped in central Kashmir district of Badgam when body of a girl was recovered from a nallah, official sources said on Friday. The body of Majza, alias Piyree, was recovered at Shaliganga in Badgam district. The girl had been missing for some time. The police has registered a case. 

Newspaper office raide: The police on Friday raided the office of an English daily ‘Kashmir Newsline’ here and seized its copies and some CDs. Editor of the newspaper Shabir Hussain in a statement said a police team from police station Kothibagh raided the office at Exchange road at 11.30 am. He said police personnel seized all the copies of English and Urdu Kashmir Newsline. Hussain further said the police, without giving any reason, also took away CDs of the newspaper.