R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BSF personnel with seized heroin on the Indo-Pak border on Monday. A Tribune photograph

Amritsar
6 kg heroin seized on Indo-Pak border: After the arrest of four armed Pakistani smugglers near Khemkaran sector on Saturday, the BSF on Monday seized another haul of heroin (6 kg) worth Rs 30 crore in the international market from a paddy field across the border fence. The packets of heroin have stamps suggesting their origin from Afghanistan. Jagir Singh, DIG, BSF, said alert BSF jawans noticed suspicious movements of Pakistani smugglers in midnight. They were challenged by the jawans when they entered into Indian territory. However, taking the advantage of darkness and standing crops across the border fence, they escaped. During a search in the morning, a bag containing the packets of 1 kg heroin each were found.

Barnala
28 bulls, cows rescued: A violent mob on Sunday allegedly set a truck on fire after getting 20 bulls and eight cows unloaded from it at a gaushala at Tapa Mandi, 18 km from here. The Tapa police arrested five persons after registering a case against them under the Animal Cruelty Act and Section 153-A, IPC. Besides this, the police also registered a case against the mob under Sections 436 and 427, IPC. The truck was coming from the Moga side, the police added. Imran, Waris, Aslam, Tehsin and Irfan, all residents of Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested.

Bathinda
Farmer training camp: A farmer training camp was organised by the PNB FTC Mehraj at village Sidhana recently, in which, all the panchayat members including sarpanch and about 80 farmers participated to seek the latest farming activities on rice, cotton and other crops. The PNB FTC, director, SL Beniwal lectured on the latest technical know-how regarding crop and milk production, piggery, poultry and beekeeping. He briefed about activities run by the centre like daily agricultural camp programme. He informed them about various bank loan schemes and welfare activities of the centre for the farmers, rural youths and women.

Baba Farid College: To welcome the newly-admitted batch of students in B- Tech 1st year, an orientation function was held at the Baba Farid College of Engineering and Technology here. An interactive programme was held among the senior members of the institution, faculty members, parents and newly-admitted students. Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal, director-principal of the college, spoke on the importance of discipline in a student’s life while Prof Navneet Dabra, dean, students’ welfare, emphasised upon overall development of students through participation in extra-curricular activities.

Seminar on swine flu: Director SL Beniwal delivered a lecture on emerging-cum-challenging viral disease ‘Swine Flu’ to the students from Ist to VIIIth standard during a seminar at PNB FTC in Sidhana village. The seminar was attended by 200 students and all the staff members including principal Rajinder Brar. He discussed the symptoms, treatment and precautionary measures. Rajinder Brar thanked the director for his concern.

Lok Adalats for women: Acting upon the guidelines of the Punjab Legal Services Authorities (PLSA), the district courts here are organising special Lok Adalats for women affairs on September 26. These Lok Adalats would be first of their kind where all matters related women — marriage dispute, family dispute, domestic violence, civil claims, money relates issues, etc, will be heard. All courts would render the service. The Lok Adalats would be presided over by the judge concerned of the court.

Ferozepur
Heroin recovered: The Ferozepur police recovered 350 gm heroin worth Rs 1.5 crore in the international market and arrested two interstate smugglers on Monday. The smugglers have been identified as Dalip Kumar and Jaswinder Kumar, both residents of Jalandhar and a case has been registered against them under the NDPS Act.

Sangrur
BJP protest against price rise: Under the leadership of district president of the BJP Jatinder Kalra, party workers on Monday held a protest march from Shiv Mandir to the office of the naib tehsildar at Bhawanigarh, 22 km from here, against rising prices. The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the naib tehsildar for forwarding it to the President of India. Kalra said it was a matter of grave concern that the Central government was not paying any attention to controlling the rising prices of essential commodities.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Library awards:The Best Service Awards for AC Joshi Library were given away in a function today. TR Bajaj (Retd. Deputy. Librarian, AC Joshi Library) has instituted the awards in memory of his parents. Neeraj Kumar Singh, assistant librarian, won in category A while Sohan Lal Chouhan, Senior Mechanic won in category B and the award for category C went to the chowkidar Raghubir Singh.

Panchkula
3,000 participate in state games: As many as 3,000 sportspersons hailing from various districts of Haryana have participated in the 44th Haryana State School Games here today. The event will conclude on August 30. The matches are being played in the under-14, under-17 and under-19 categories. In the under-14 girls badminton matches played today, Kurukshetra defeated Jhazzar, Jind beat Gurgaon and Yamunagar defeated Bhivani.

HARYANA

Kalka
Freedom fighter remembered: The Pinjore Sabha organised a condolence meeting today on the 100th death anniversary of Madan Lal Dhingra, a renowned freedom fighter. Pankaj Gandhi, general secretary of the sabha said the meeting was presided over by Vicky Grover, president of the sabha. A two-minute silence was also observed to pay tributes to freedom fighters.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
9 hurt in road mishap: Nine persons were injured when a car they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge in Ramban district on Jammu Srinagar National Highway here on Monday. The police said the car was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar and the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve on the national highway near Nashri. Two of the nine injured were serious.

Army holds medical camp: The Delta Force organised a free medical camp for residents of Doda district under Operation Sadbhavana. Col Paramjeet Singh, Commanding Officer of 4 Rashtriya Rifles, inaugurated the camp. A large number of patients turned up for medical checkup from nearby villages, namely Sharekhi, Bheja and Thanala Bhaderwah.