R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Dal Khalsa on federal agency: The Dal Khalsa has sought a thorough discussion on the proposed Bill for creating a federal agency to combat terror. Spokesperson for the Dal Khalsa Kanwarpal Singh said here on Friday that the doubts expressed by the SAD regarding the functioning of the proposed body were valid and the experience of Punjab and other conflict-torn states had been bitter in the past. He said the creation of a new federal agency by surpassing the rights of the state would create further discord between the states and the Centre. 

Bathinda
Photo exhibition: As many as 14 lensmen of the local print media are participating in the two-day photo exhibition titled ‘Camera di akh cho’ to be inaugurated by Harbhajan Singh, MD, the Harbhajan Institutes, on Sunday. The exhibition is being organised by the Photojournalists Association. The chief guest for the concluding ceremony would be Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, MD, Baba Farid Institutes, Deon.

Hoshiarpur
Theft case: The Sadar police registered a case under section 381 of the IPC against Sanjay Kumar, son of Roshan Lal of Panipat, and Gurdev Singh, son of Surinder Singh of Rohtak, on the complaint of their employer Ravinder Singh, son of Buta Singh of the local Mall Road, on Friday evening. Ravinder Singh alleged that both the employees decamped with his gold ring, cash and Swift car from his hotel at Chohal on the night of December 11. 

Travel agents booked: The fake travel agents (husband and wife) have duped an innocent person of Rs 1.50 lakh in the name of sending him abroad. The Model Town police has booked Jagtar Singh and his wife Paramjit Kaur of local Tagore Nagar under sections 406 and 420 of the IPC in this connection. Gurmail singh of Mohalla Tibba Sahib alleged that the travel agents took Rs 1.50 lakh from him for sending him to a foreign country. But they neither sent him abroad nor returned the money. 

Employees’ convention: To discuss the problems of state government employees and their solution and the policies of the government towards employees, a four-day convention of the All-India State Government Employees Federation will be held from December 20 at Thiruvananthapuram, according to a press release by federation press secretary Inderjit Singh Virdi here on Saturday. Fifty delegates under the leadership of state federation chief Sucha Singh Khatra from Punjab would participate in this convention. 

Khanna
Two killed in road mishap: Narinder Kumar and Pal Singh were killed in an accident while returning from a wedding on a motorcycle when a Scorpio hit them from a wrong side, near Faizagarh village yesterday. Pal Singh died on the spot while Narinder was declared dead at the Civil Hospital, Khanna. A case has been registered.

MOGA
New education policy sought: The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has demanded from the state government to frame a new education policy to provide scholarships, implement reservation in admissions and recruitment of staff and keep a check on exploitation of Dalit students in the private and government-aided educational institutes. Chairman of state-unit of the LJP Kiranjit Singh Gehri said on Thursday that the Dalits and poor students of other castes were being deprived of various schemes of the Centre and state government. 

Nawanshahr
HPU topper: Local resident Hina Jain has stood first in the MA (economics) examination conducted by Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. She would be honoured by the Himotkarsh Sahitaya, Sanskriti Avam Jankalyan Parishad, Una, at its 34th annual convocation. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal would be the chief guest at the convocation. 

SANGRUR
Chambers inaugurated: MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa inaugurated Lawyers’ chambers, built at a cost of Rs 2.70 crore, in the district judicial complex here on Saturday. An amount of Rs 1.20 crore was provided by the state government while the remaining amount of Rs 1.50 crore was contributed by the local lawyers. Among others who were present on the occasion included secretary of Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana Harpreet Singh Brar, deputy commissioner V.K. Ohri, and area in charge of the SAD for Sangrur Assembly constituency Parkash Chand Garg. 

HARYANA

Ambala
Selected: Open Access Technologies India conducted a campus  interview in SA Jain Institute of Management, Ambala, today for MCA students. According to the director of the institute, S.C. Aggarwal, 15 students were shortlisted after a detail interview, out of which three  students were  selected. 

Two killed: A truck driver and his cleaner were killed today when they were run over by another truck, as they were changing the truck tyre. The accident happened at the GT Road.  Those killed have been identified as Bhupinder Pal and Balwant  Singh, residents of Kapurthala. 

FATEHABAD
2 killed in mishaps: A driver of the district transport officer (DTO) was killed when a car reportedly rammed into him near Baropal village here on Thursday. The incident took place when the victim was trying to stop vehicles on the national highway as DTO Munish Nagpal was checking documents of vehicles on the roadside. The deceased has been identified as Jaswinder Singh of Sirsa town. In another incident, Rajiv, a resident of Bhana Bhodia, was killed when the vehicle he was driving collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on the outskirts of Fatehabad town on the Sirsa road on Thursday.

JHAJJAR
Road blocked: Agitated over erratic power supply and frequent tripping of transformer for over two weeks, residents of Silani village blocked traffic for over three hours on the Jhajjar-Rewari National Highway here on Friday. Though the police officials tried to pacify the protesters, they remained adamant on their demands of immediate replacement of the faulty transformer. They alleged that the transformer had developed a technical snag around two weeks ago leading to frequent power cuts. The faulty transformer was not rectified despite repeated complaints. They had approached the district administration in this regard, but to no avail. 

KAITHAL
INLD leader joins Cong: The president of the committee constituted by the Indian National Lok Dal for Nauch village, Sadhu Ram, along with 21 of his supporters left the party and joined the Congress in the presence of Haryana power minister Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday. Sadhu Ram said he and his supporters were very much impressed with development-oriented policies of the Congress government. 

KURUKSHETRA
Stone laid: Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Haryana agriculture, cooperative, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries minister, on Friday laid the foundation stone of an old age home-cum-daycare centre, being constructed by the Senior Citizens Forum in Sector 13, Urban Estate. Former chairman of the Municipal Council, Thanesar, Subahash Sudha announced Rs 1 lakh while Thanesar MLA Ramesh Gupta announced Rs 51,000 for the construction of the centre.

REWARI
1 booked for fraud: The police has booked Tek Chand, a resident of Guriani village, near Kosli, on charges of impersonation, cheating and forgery for allegedly receiving old age pension from the state government on the basis of fake documents. A case has been registered against him on a directive of the court of the Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate of Kosli, who has issued it on a complaint filed by Mahavir of Guriani village. The complainant alleged that Tek Chand had been getting old age pension from the state government since 2000 i.e. for the past eight years on the basis of fake documents. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHAN
2 deodar trees stolen: Two green deodar trees have been felled and stolen during the night hours from the Habban forest range in Rajgarh forest division. As per a report filed by Amar Singh, forest range officer, Habban forest range with the Rajgarh police, forest officials could not trace the thieves or the wood of the trees. The police has registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC and Section 33 of the Indian Forest Act.

Workers stage dharna: Work in a medicine-manufacturing factory situated at Rampur Jatan in the Kala Amb industrial area came to a standstill on Saturday after the workers of the factory demanding weekly holiday and other facilities as per rule went on strike. Workers led by their leaders Sheesh Pal, Ajay, Mukesh and Ram Sharan raised slogans against the factory administration and staged dharna on the factory gate. They asked the state Labour Department to immediately intervene in the matter and persuade the factory management to grant them all allowances and facilities as per rules. 

NURPUR
Woman commits suicide: The police has arrested Asgar Mohammad, his mother Maksoom Akhtar and sister Rabina Akhtar of Salhan village for allegedly harassing Kiran Bibi (28), wife of Mohammad, who reportedly committed suicide on Friday by jumping into a well. She was fished out by her in-laws with the assistance of villagers and taken to a private hospital at Pathankot where she was declared brought dead. A case of dowry death has been registered after preliminary investigations. It was alleged that the deceased was harassed for dowry following which she was forced to commit suicide. 

Car owner arrested: The police has registered a case of forcible crossing of barrier on the Punjab and Himachal border at Kandwal by a car driver in the wee hours on Saturday. According to the police, which has lodged an FIR against car (HP51-1410) owner Lalit Saini, a resident of Dhobra (Pathankot), the constable on duty stopped the car going towards Pathankot and asked the driver to show to the documents, but the driver pushed the constable on duty and fled by breaking the barricade. Later, the police impounded the car and arrested the accused in afternoon. 

KULLU
One nabbed with charas: Prakash Chand, son of Het Ram of Brot village of this district, was nabbed by the Ani police with 6.05 kg of charas on the Nagan road, near Ani, on Saturday. Superintendent of police Jagat Ram confirmed that the alleged accused was caught by a patrolling police party and a case under Sections 20A and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered.