R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandigarh
4 more polytechnics to be set up: The Government of India has approved four new polytechnics for Punjab. Stating this here on Wednesday, Punjab Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Swarna Ram said the polytechnics would be established in Kapurthala district, Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr), Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib. A sum of Rs 12.30 crore per polytechnic would be provided by the Centre and the land and development charges would be borne by the state government. Out of Rs 12.30 crore, a sum of Rs 8 crore would be spent on civil works and Rs 4.30 crore on equipment, machinery, furniture, transport and learning resource material. The first instalment of Rs 2 crore per district had already been released by the Centre, he added.

Committee formed: The state government has constituted a state-level Agriculture Mass Media Monitoring Committee to inform and educate the farming community to meet emerging challenges using mass media. The Financial Commissioner, Development, and the Director, Agriculture, Punjab, will be chairman and secretary, respectively. An official spokesman of the Agriculture Department said the committee would have 16 official members. It would meet a least once a month, the spokesman added.

Hoshiarpur
Chain snatched: A motorcycle-borne youth snatched a gold chain, weighing about 55 gm, from Romesh Gupta, wife of Anil Gupta of Ludhiana, while she was entering 
the house of her aunt at local Nai Abadi this 
afternoon. According to police sources, after snatching the chain, the looter fled on his motorcycle. The police is actively searching for the snatcher.

Ludhiana
Ban on burning stubble: The District Magistrate has banned the burning of paddy stubble by farmers. In a ban order passed under Section 144 of the CrPC, DM Vikas Garg said burning of stubble caused pollution and posed a health hazard. He said whosoever found flouting the ban would be penalised. 

Ward No. 58 to be model ward: Darshan Singh Shivalik, MLA, today said that Ward No. 58 would be developed as a model ward and until now, Rs 24.55 crore had been spent on various development projects.He was addressing a function after inaugurating a tubewell sunk at a cost of Rs 10 lakh at Adarsh Colony. He said six more tubewells would be sunk in various colonies of Ward No. 58. He also said 7,000 saplings had been planted in various colonies.

Malerkotla
Wakf Board: Of the nine members nominated by the state government on the Punjab Wakf Board, three hail from Malerkotla. These are SAD Halka in charge Chaudhry Abdul Gaffar, Congress MLA from Malerkotla Razia Sultana and general council member of the SAD Nadeem Anwar Khan. The other six members nominated on the board are Dilbag Hussian, Mohammed Usman Qureshi, Manju Qureshi, Mohammad Usman Rehmani, Mohanmmad Izhar Alam and Hazi Fazaldin. The state government had issued a notification regarding their nomination on Monday.

Patiala
Workshop on libraries begins: The department of library and information science, Punjabi University, organised a workshop on “Libraries as Transparency Institutions: IFLA Transparency Manifesto Workshop”, which began yesterday. Dr Jagtar Singh, head of department, said the workshop was being sponsored by the Panel of Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions , the Hague, Netherlands.

Phagwara
One kills self: A migrant labourer identified as Garian (34) reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope from a tree on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road here last night. Mental depression, caused by tension in the family was said to be the cause of suicide, police said. The body was handed over to the family after post-mortem.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Maneesh Chaudhary appointed SP: The Haryana Government has posted Maneesh Chaudhary, IPS, Additional Superintendent of Police, Rohtak, as SP, Panchkula, against a vacant post with immediate effect.

Arrangements for Jat meet reviewed: The Jat Sabha, Chandigarh, held a review meeting to check the overall arrangements for the International Jat Intellectual Meet, 2009, which would be organised on November 22 at the Jat Bhawan in Sector 27-A here. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr MS Malik, IPS (retd). He informed that a one-day seminar would be held on the “Role of jats in nation building”. More than 50 abstracts or papers had been received and the same would be reviewed.

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
Life term for murder: Additional District and Sessions Judge JS Dahiya on Wednesday sentenced a person to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 12,000 on him for the murder of a farmer identified as Sukhdev Singh. The convict, Nirmal Singh, a resident of Lamba village, had gunned down Sukhdev Singh on August 1, 2007, when the latter objected to the former disconnecting his power line. The police had also booked Gurpreet Singh and Gurveer Singh for the murder, but the court acquitted them for want of sufficient evidence.

Kurukshetra
Drug peddlers jailed: Additional Sessions JudgeNeelima Shangla today sentenced two drug smugglers — Rakesh Kumar and Paras Sharma — to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment along with fine of Rs 1 lakh each under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for smuggling poppy husk. Both were caught smuggling 120 kg of poppy husk in their car on August 6, 2008, from Badayun (UP) to Kurukshetra.

Cheaper power for horticulturists: Chandigarh: Now, horticulturists in Haryana will pay for power on a par with agriculturists. This was announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while presiding over a meeting of the state-level coordination committee for agricultural production for rabi 2009-10 here today. The power tariff for the horticulture sector has now been reduced to 25 paise per unit on a par with the agriculture sector. This step will go a long way in promoing horticulture in the state.

Yamunanagar
2 killed in accident: Two persons of a family of Sabhalpur village were killed while four others seriously injured when the car they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck here today. Rameshwar and his mother died on the spot while other family members, including Rameshwar’s wife, daughter and other two relatives, who sustained serious injuries, were admitted in hospitals. The incident took place when the family was on the way home after attending a marriage.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Development of townships: Taking into account the present affairs in the underdeveloped townships of Chowari and Sinhuta where the constructions are nowadays fast mushrooming, the state government is contemplating to extend the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act for the planned development before the industrial concept penetrates into these townships. Official sources confirmed this here on Tuesday that a proposal to this effect was already under the active consideration of the state government so that the charm of these gorgeous townships set in the captivating Bhattiyat valley on the foothills of northern ranges of the mighty Dhauladhars could be saved.

SHIMLA
Engineer honoured: Chief executive officer of Malana Power Company, Man Mohan Madan, has been nominated among the “top 100 engineers 2009” by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge. The honour has been bestowed on him in recognition of his contribution in the field of hydro power development. A BTech in civil engineering and MBA, Madan specialised in computerised planning and monitoring of large hydroelectric projects and is an expert in construction of underground works.