R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
NSS camp held: The NSS volunteers of the local Government Polytechnic College organised a camp here on Monday. About 60 NSS volunteers took part in the camp. They cleaned the Bibiwala road and the road passing near the college.

Ludhiana
Office-bearers elected:Bittu Dulgach and Manoj Prabhakri will head Dr Ambedkar Sangharsh Morcha.

Other elected office-bearers:Senior vice-president (district unit): Deepak Charan, vice-president: Makhan Singh; secretary: Ashok Diwana; treasurer: Pawan Diwana; propaganda secretary: Hans Raj Sharma.
Senior vice-president (city unit): Ranbir Vidlan: vice-president: Babbu Disawar; secretary: Satinder Lahoria secretary; propaganda secretary: Dwarka Choudhry; treasurer: Jasbir.

Nawanshahr
DSP instruction for SIM card dealers: Deputy Superintendent of Police Satpal Singh Bhangu, convened a meeting of SIM card dealers at a hotel here on Monday and asked them to verify the identity proofs of the customers before selling them SIM cards. A large number of SIM card dealers attended the meeting.

Phillaur
Parolee commits suicide:An inmate, Inderjit Singh, resident of nearby Virk village, who went to his village on parole, reportedly committing suicide by jumping before a 
train on the Phillaur-Phagwara rail section last night.The GRP has sent the to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination. 

Woman sets herself afire, dies: Sandeep Kaur committed suicide by setting herself on fire after sprinkling kerosene on her clothes in nearby Bahar Singh Pura village last night. A quarrel with her husband, Surinder Singh, is said to be the reason for her taking the extreme step. Surinder Singh, who was a habitual drinker, allegedly used to torture her physically and mentally for money to purchase liquor. Sandeep was admitted to the Civil Hospital with 75 per cent burn injuries and later referred to a Ludhiana hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The police has registered a case against Surinder Singh for abetment to suicide, but the accused is at large.

CHANDIGARH

30 pc arrears given:Prof RC Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, on Saturday announced transfer of 30 per cent of the arrears to the respective accounts of teachers of the university in accordance with the report of the Sixth Pay Commission. The arrears have been transferred on the promised date and it is a Baisakhi gift for the university employees, said an official of the department of public relations, PU.

HARYANA

Kalka
APRO office a distant dream:The setting up of the office of assistant public relations officer (APRO) here has been a long-pending demand of local mediapersons, but despite the fact they have submitted several memorandums to the government in this regard, nothing happened till date. Vijay Bansal, local senior politician of the area, said the government should immediately set up the office at Kalka to facilitate the journalists of the area. He said in the absence of the office, local mediapersons are deprived of the development and welfare schemes of the government.

PANIPAT
Road blocked: The family members of Sukhbir, a chowkidar at Mehrana village who allegedly took poison and died on April 4, on Monday blocked the Panipat-Gohana road, demanding the arrest of four persons. The family members said Sukhbir was been threatened by the accused following which he committed suicide. 

Rewari
2 killed in mishaps: Two persons died in separate road accidents in the district on Sunday. Ishwar Singh Yadav (55), a resident of Pachgaon village in Gurgaon district, died after he was hit by a school bus on the Dharuhera-Rewari road at Hansaka village, on Sunday night. In another incident, a resident of Mandhia Kalan village was killed when the motorcycle he was riding on, hit a truck on the bypass. 

Sonepat
65 get jobs: As many as 65 students of different educational institutions got jobs in Tech Mahendera after two days of interviews held on the campus of Geeta Vidya Mandir Institute of Technology and Management. Around 500 students from various colleges participated in the campus interviews.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
21 houses gutted: As many as 21 houses, including shops, a treasury of the state government and a telephone exchange of the BSNL, were burnt in a fire at Holi, 75 km from here on Sunday. The telecommunication services remained cut off to Holi tribal belt, thereby causing inordinate delay in getting information about the incident. According to sources, more than 55 shopkeepers residing in these 21 structures were affected and rendered homeless. The loss caused due to the fire had been estimated at more than Rs 3 crore, the sources revealed; adding that an immediate relief of Rs 5,000 each had been disbursed among the victims.

MANDI
Date extended: The state government has raised the upper age limit from 28 years to 33 years for recruitment of Home Guard constables in the Police Department from this year onwards. With this, the police has extended the last date for the receipt of application for recruitment of Home Guards in the 6th IRB up to May 31, 2010. According to the DIG (central range), the test will be held on June 29 and 30 in range headquarters at Mandi. The Home Guards’ volunteers, who have already submitted their applications, need not apply again.