Abohar
Man succumbs to burns: One Banwari Lal of village Khippanwali in this sub-division, who had been rushed to the Civil Hospital on Wednesday morning, with burn injuries, died later, sources said. The family sources informed the police that his clothes caught fire when the victim was preparing tea using kerosene-based stove. 

BKS conference on Dec 20: While unfolding the agenda for the 36th annual conference of the Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) scheduled to be held at Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh on December 20, BKS president, Ajay Jakhar, said here on Wednesday that the Central government should avoid taking up multi-billion cost projects involving construction of new dams as the same had failed to achieve the given targets. 

Bathinda
GNDTP on air pollution: Thanks to the authorities of the Guru Nanak dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), Bathinda, who claimed today of being concerned over the aggravated menace of air pollution, emitted from the chimneys of the thermal plant. Issuing a press release, the public relations officer of the GNDTP, Satwant Singh Aulakh said the unit III and IV of the plant, the main source of the air pollution, were also going to be renovated at the cost of Rs.465 crore. He added that the work had been allotted to the BHEL and to get the work started soon, the PSEB officials had been regularly pressurising the BHEL authorities. Stating further, he mentioned that senior officials of the PSEB were going to have a meeting with BHEL authorities at Delhi on Wednesday.

Withdrawal of affiliation: Refuting media reports stating that the PSEB had withdrawn the affiliation of Guru Gobind Singh College of Engineering & Technology, Talwandi Sabo, BS Dhaliwal, principal of the college, stated that the issue was not related to the college but to a public school, being run with identical name.

CHANDIGARH
Ludhiana-Delhi flight soon: MP: Congress MP from Ludhiana Manish Tewari said on Tuesday that Ludhiana-Delhi flight would soon be started. Tewari, who led a delegation to meet Air India chairman and MD Arvind Jadhav, claimed that though the state government had not shown much interest in augmenting the facilities at the Ludhiana airport like expanding the runway for safe landing and take-off of the big planes, Air India had assured him that it would explore all possibilities to operate smaller aircrafts for the time being so that the city was connected by air at the earliest. 

Varsity session: Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, would commence its academic activities from March 2011. A decision to this effect has been taken during a meeting of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Memorial Trust held here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. It was informed in the meeting by Vice-Chancellor of the university Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia that the construction work of the university was in full swing and about 80 per cent of the work had been completed whereas the rest would be completed by the end of March 2010.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Press Club formed: Journalists in Sirhind formed the Press Club, Sirhind, and elected Ashok Dhiman as the president of the club. Eleven other members were also elected during the occasion, which include Rajeev Sood, Ashok Jhanji, Jaswant Singh, Bhushan Sood, Manpreet Singh and Pramod Bhardwaj. Local political leaders from different political parties were present during the occasion.

Hoshiarpur
8-yr-old raped: The police on Tuesday arrested migrant labourer Pawan of Smaru district, Patna (Bihar), under section 376 of the IPC for raping a minor girl of Bohra village. According to police sources, the girl’s brother alleged that his eight-year-old sister was collecting firewood at Kulewal village last evening. On seeing the girl alone Pawan raped her and escaped. After medical examination of the girl at the Civil Hospital, Garhshankar, a case was registered and the girl was admitted in the hospital for treatment. 

Jalandhar
Vijay Diwas: The Vajra Corps celebrated Vijay Diwas, the triumph in 1971 war, at Jalandhar Cantonment here today. Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali, GOC of Vajra Corps, along with the war veterans and other senior serving and retired Army officers, paid homage to the martyrs at the Vajra Corps War Memorial. The GOC stressed on the necessity of operational readiness and exhorted all ranks to be well prepared for any eventuality. The Vajra Corps showed its mettle on the strategic western front and achieved victory in the war. A proud nation conferred 8 Mahavir Chakras, 47 Vir Chakras and numerous other awards on the valiant men of the Vajra Corps.

LALRU
30 boxes of  liquor seized: The police seized 30 boxes of liquor from the possession of two Ambala residents on Wednesday. They were identified as Shekhar and Kuku. The police laid a naka on a tip off near Lalru village and intercepted a vehicle moving towards Ambala from Chandigarh. The accused had been arrested. 

Patiala
Foundation stone laid: PWD minister of Punjab Parminder Singh Dhindsa laid the foundation stone of the three-storied library of Government Mohindra College here today. The library would be constructed with a total budget of Rs 2.10 crore. Speaking on the occasion, Dhindsa informed that Rs 35 lakh had already been released as the first instalment for the construction of library and the rest would be released soon after the first storey would be completed. 

Docs demand security: The Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association in its urgent meeting condemned the incidence of manhandling of a resident doctor in medicine ward of Government Rajindra Hospital and demanded an FIR registered against the culprit. The association president, Dr KD Singh, said adequate security should be provided on the pattern of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, to the medical and paramedical staff of the Rajindra Hospital, medical and dental colleges. The association observed that the government was not serious to provide security to the staff.

CHANDIGARH
Meeting on regularisation: The first meeting of the committee constituted to frame a policy for regularisation of services of Group, B, C and D government employees will be held on Thursday. Stating this here on Tuesday, an official spokesman said Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati would preside over the meeting of the committee. He said the meeting had been convened to consider and recommend the modalities to regularise the service of Group B, C and D employees, appointed on ad hoc basis, daily wages and contract basis.

Excursion policy for students: The Haryana government has framed a policy “Excursion Tour of Students” under which students of classes IX to XII studying in government schools of the state will be taken on a study tour once in a year. The policy has been framed to provide conducive atmosphere for the all-round growth and development of children through interaction with other children and exposure to new places of interest. Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal on Tuesday said an amount of Rs 11 crore had been sanctioned by the state government for 2009-10 for the purpose. 

REWARI
Woman commits suicide: Sujata Yadav (21) ended her life by jumping into a well at Dhawana village here on Tuesday following an altercation with her husband. Sujata, who got married to Gopi Chand Yadav in 2007, is survived by a son. On a complaint filed by Ram Kalan Yadav, mother of the deceased, the police has registered a case of abetment to suicide against Gopi Chand.

Solar lanterns distributed: Dr Dharambir Baldodia, block education officer, distributed solar lanterns among 121 meritorious students of government schools of the Nahar block of the district under the “Shiksha Deep Yojana” of the state government in Nahar, 40 km from here, on Wednesday. The beneficiaries, belonging to classes V, VIII, X and XII had bagged the first position in their respective schools in the annual examinations this year.

SIRSA
Eye camp organised: As many as 1,525 cataract eye surgeries have been performed at a mega health camp and free-of-cost eye camp organised in the Dera Sacha Sauda. The camp was inaugurated on December 13 by dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on the death anniversary of Shah Satnam Singh, the second chief of the dera. “In all, 8,218 patients were registered at the eye camp out of which 1,653 were identified for intra-ocular lens implantation for removal of cataract.