BATHINDA
Two more held for Dera man’s murder: The police on Wednesday arrested two more persons in Dera Sacha Sauda follower Lily Kumar’s murder case and seized weapons from their possession. With their arrest, number of arrests in the case has risen to six. The four persons arrested earlier had revealed Makhan Singh of Sardoolgarh and Karan Singh of Jhandu Ke village in Mansa had plotted the murder.

Meeting held: A meeting of the ETT Teachers’ Union was held here on Thursday. Swaranjeet Singh Bhagta, vice-president of the union, said some elements were trying to hamper the union’s fight against the government.

PSEB engineers’ meeting: Activists of the PSEB Engineers’ Association, Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant region, during a general house meeting held here on Thursday, urged the PSEB and state government to take the execution of declared power plants in its hand. They also expressed concern over the shortage of technical staff due to which routine working of the PSEB was being affected.

Sood to unfurl national flag: Tikshan Sood, minister for parliamentary affairs, medical education and research, forests & wildlife, will unfurl the national flag and take salute on the Independence Day to be celebrated at the Sports Stadium here.

Deer park closed on I-Day: A spokesman of the Wild Life Preservation Department, Punjab, informed that Zoological Park, Chattbir (Mohali), Deer Park Nillon (Ludhiana), Zoological Park (Ludhiana), Deer Park Bir Motibagh (Patiala) and Deer Park Bir Talab (Bathinda) will remain closed for general public on Independence Day.

CHANDIGARH
Census of NRIs ordered: Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has ordered a census of NRIs in the state to initiate schemes for their welfare. Sukhbir also interacted with NRI philanthropist Lord Rana, Honorary Consul of India, Northern Ireland and Executive Vice-President, GOPIO International. The Deputy Chief Minister asked Commissioner, NRI Affairs, Gagandeep Singh Brar to ask the DCs to survey every village, town and city of the state for compiling data of all NRIs from the state. Sukhbir sought Lord Rana’s help in this venture.

Zoos closed on I-Day: A spokesman for the state Wild Life Preservation Department informed that Zoological Park Chattbir (Mohali), Deer Park Nillon (Ludhiana), Zoological Park (Ludhiana), Deer Park Bir Motibagh ( Patiala) and Deer Park Bir Talab (Bathinda) will remain closed on the Independence Day.

FEROZEPUR
Teej celebrated: Students of DAV College for Women here celebrated ‘Teej’. Sukhpal Singh Nannu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, was the chief guest on the occasion. An exhibition was also organised. Nannu announced Rs 2 lakh grant for the college. Samriti was declared “Teej Queen”.

Hoshiarpur
Minor sodomised: A nine-year-old boy was sodomised at Brahamjit village. The Sadar police last night booked Jaspreet Singh of Brahamjit under section 377 of the IPC in this connection. According to police sources, the father of the boy alleged that Jaspreet Singh of the same village sodomised his son on August 8.

Jalandhar
Laughter show today: The laughter show ‘Laughter with Gymkhana Family’ would be held on August 14 at 8 pm in Jullundur Gymkhana Club. Renowned comedians of the silver screen --- Bharti, Deepak Raja, Sudesh Lehri, Raja Sagoo --- along with music director Surinder Singh would perform at the event. Honorary secretary of the club said another show ‘Family No 1’ would also be held in September.

Stenography course: The District Sainik Welfare Office would start a one-year stenography course approved by the Punjab Language Department on September 3. The candidates should either be matriculate (first division) with Punjabi as a compulsory subject or 10+2 (second division) with Punjabi as a subject. Preference would be given to higher qualified candidates.

HMV staff continue protest: Continuing their protest against the state government over non-implementation of 5th Pay Commission recommendations, the members of the Non-Teaching Staff Union of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya wore black badges on Wednesday. Union president Kulwant Singh criticised the government for not accepting their demands.

IAF athletics championship on: The 57th Indian Air Force inter-command athletics championship-2009-10 began at Air Force Station, Adampur, on Tuesday. Air Cdre H.S. Arora, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Adampur, declared the championship open.

One more suspected swine flu case: Mandeep Kaur, a local resident, was today admitted to the Civil Hospital with swine flu like symptoms. The girl, who is a student of MBA in Pune, came home recently and reported of fever and cough. District Health Officer Dr Rooplal said the swab samples of the girl had been sent to the NICD, New Delhi. “The reports would be received within some days,”  he added.

Pathankot
Kerosene shortage: There is an acute shortage of kerosene in the town. People are being put to great hardships due to the shortage. Even ration card-holders were refused kerosene on the plea that supply had not been received while the commodity was being sold on the black market at Rs 25 to 28 per litre. No official of the Food and Civil supplies Department was available for comments.

Chairman elected: Surinder Mahajan was elected Chairman of Pathankot Primary Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Limited here on Thursday. Six directors of the bank extended their support  to Mahajan.

Gang busted: The police busted a three-member gang of vehicle-lifters and recovered a motorcycle and two scooters from their possession. Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a naka at Chakki Bridge and nabbed Tony, Mithun and Ashwani Kumar, residents of Chhani Beli Indora in Himachal Pradesh, and recovered the vehicles which were kept in a temple situated at the town outskirt. Sharp-edge weapons, including a sword and iron rods, were also seized.

PATIALA
College teachers’ protest: General secretary of the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation Dr Jaswant Singh said on Wednesday rallies and dharnas would be held by college and university teachers in the state from August 19 to protest the Punjab government’s failure to implement revised pay scales.

SANGRUR
State award for writer: Punjabi writer and project director of the local District Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre Mohan Sharma has been selected for the state-level “Punjab Sarkar Parman Patra-2009” award. The Chief Minister will give this award to him at a state-level Independence Day function in Ferozepur on August 15. He is being honoured for his services in the fields of literature, culture and social activities.

Dharna against price rise: The CPI and the CPM on Thursday held joint dharna in protest against rising prices in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) here. District secretary of the CPI Satwant Singh Khandebad and district secretary of the CPM Bant Singh Namol led the dharna A memorandum against rising prices was submitted to the administration.

Jammu
Regularisation policy: The JK Medical Employees Federation (Original) on Thursday hailed the state government for conceding the long-standing demand of ad-hoc and contractual paramedical staff for regularisation. President of the federation Dharminsder Singh Bhargav also expressed hope that the government would soon address the pending demands, including implementation of the 6th Pay Commission report at par with central government employees and asked the government to release the pay arrears from January 1, 2006.

NCC training camp: The All-India Thal Sena selection-cum-annual training camp conducted by First J&K Armed Squadron of the NCC is currently on at Nagrota. The camp, inaugurated by Brig Anil Gupta, deputy director-general, NCC, commenced on August 7, would conclude on August 16. Camp commandant Lt-Col Javed A. Mir said the camp aimed at imparting collective training such as map reading, drill, firing, obstacles, tent pitching etc to develop a sense of discipline amongst the cadets.

Varsity officers’ association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Jammu University Officers Association: Imran Farooq-President; Desh Bandhu-- vice-president; MP Raina--general secretary; Vinay Thasoo --- publicity/ organising secretary; and Amit Mahajan, --- finance secretary. The five-member executive committee comprises Aman Sharma, Mohammad Shoaib, Anju, Ginni Dogra, and Guneet Singh Sudan.

Docs hail govt move: The Peripheral Doctors’ Association (PDA) has welcomed the government proposal to provide special incentives to the doctors working in peripheral areas. A press note issued here stated that the PDA also appreciated the government move to regularise the contractual/ad hoc doctors, paramedical staff and other staff. However, the PDA urged the government to concede the pending demands of the doctors --- shifting of medicos from pay band two to pay band three, providing NPA with the current basic and grade pay, and rural and risk allowances.

Srinagar
Nilofer Khan appointed Dean Students Welfare: Vice-Chancellor Riyaz Punjabi of Kashmir University has appointed Prof Nilofer Khan as the first woman Dean Students Welfare. A doctorate in Home Sciences from Kashmir University Prof. Khan is life member of many prestigious associations of India, including Home Science Association of India (HSAI), Nutrition Society of India (NSI), National Alliance of Women’s Organisation (NAWO) and All-Indian Women’s Association (IWA).

Wildlife office: Minister for Forests Mian Altaf Ahmad on Wednesday announced to open a wildlife office in Banihal on temporary basis. He said the possibility of making the office permanent would also be explored to contain incidence of human-animal conflicts in the area. Replying to a Calling Attention Notice in the Assembly, the minister said all necessary measures would be taken to check occurrence of such incidents in all remote and hilly areas.