R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
Murder mystery cracked: The Civil Lines police on Monday cracked the mystery shrouding the murder of a 10-year-old boy of Pranthawala. His body had been found in a water channel near Rose Garden on February 2. The probe revealed that a rickshaw puller, Kanhaya Lal, had a monetary dispute with the boy Rahul's father Ashok Kumar. To take revenge, he kidnapped the boy and tried to sodomize him, before killing him. The accused has been arrested. 

Ferozepur
International conference: Tejinder Singh Sidhu, principal, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Ferozepur, has been invited to present a paper in the ninth international conference on ‘Advances and Trends in Engineering Materials and their Applications’. The conference will be held in Montreal (Canada) from August 1-5. Sidhu said he would present his paper on ‘Studies of the Micro structural and Mechanical Properties of HVOF Sprayed Ni-Al Coatings on Ni-based Super Alloys’. He has published 25 research papers in international reputed journals many research papers in the national and international conferences. He was awarded by the IIT (Roorkee) for completing his PhD in a record time of two years and four months.

Nawanshahr
Oil tanker stolen:An oil tanker (PB 32 E- 9221) was stolen from an HPSB petrol station in Naura in the district during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The police has registered a case at the Sadar police station. 

HARYANA

Sirsa
Sirsa bank branch burgled:An agriculture development branch of the State Bank of India situated on the local Dabwali Road was burgled on Saturday night by some miscreants. The matter came to light when a bank official went towards the bank during his evening walk and noticed the rear gate of the bank open. The police found that the miscreants used gas cutters to break the cash room after entering from the back door.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

SRINAGAR
Army jawan shoots himself: A jawan of the 32 Rashtriya Rifles committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle here on Monday. A police spokesman said hawildar clerk Sudhkar, at present posted at the Headquarters Coy at Watergam, falling under the jurisdiction of Dangiwacha police station, committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle. The police has initiated investigation under Section 174 of the CrPC.

Valley women honoured: Kashmiri women, who have excelled in their chosen fields, were felicitated on the eve of the International Women's day here on Monday. Among the women honoured with the 'Koor chi noor' (Girl is light) award were, noted Kashmiri singer Raj Begum, Sessions Judge Kaniz Fatima, Principal of Government Medical College, Srinagar, Shahida Mir, deputy superintendent Nighat Aman, and radio jockey Haya. 

Two cops hurt in militant attack : Two policemen were injured seriously when suspected militants attacked them with sharp-edged weapons in the Yaripora area of Kulgam district on Monday. The militants also took away the service rifles of the injured policemen. The injured policemen, constable Abdul Majid and special police officer (SPO) Mohammad Ashraf, were admitted to a hospital here.

DEHRADUN

Guv, CM greet citizens on Women’s Day:Governor Margaret Alva has greeted the citizens of Uttarakhand and the country on the occasion of the International Women's Day and has conveyed her best wishes to them on the occasion. In a message on the eve of the occasion, the Governor extended her greetings and felicitations to the people. Alva said, “Even as we commemorate this day, we cannot ignore the constraints and difficulties that our women face on issues like violence, healthcare, education, employment, family norms, inheritance, and political participation. We as progressive societies must address these challenges and join hands to empower our women, through awareness and opportunities”. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has also greeted women on the International Women’s Day. In his message, he said that all over the world, women have shown their worth in diverse fields. In Uttarakhand, they played a stellar role in the statehood agitation. 

Shiksha Mitras’ dharna on: The agitated Shiksha Mitras, who are demanding regularisation of their services, continued their dharna in front of the Vidhan Sabha on the eighth day today. In view of their demands not being fulfilled yet, they have decided to move their protest forward. 

Mussoorie
Anti-encroachment drive begins: The Mussoorie Municipal Council, with a resolve to remove encroachments from the “Queen of Hills”, began an anti-encroachment drive on Monay. The drive began from Landour Bazar and was carried out till the Green Restaurant situated at Kulri Bazaar.

Kumaon Briefs

Five killed in separate road accidents
Five persons were killed and seven were injured in separate road accidents in the region. In the first instance, two persons, who were riding a motorcycle, were killed when they collided head on with a truck near State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal Limited (SIDCUL) area of Rudrapur. They have been identified as Chanchal Singh and Vasant Pande of Bindukhatta. In the second instance, Shashikant Bharati of Sonbhadra died on the spot when the vehicle (Jeep) in which he was travelling along with five others collided with a truck near the Bilaspur sugar mill. In the third instance an auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM), identified as Jeevanti Karki, was killed when the vehicle in which she was travelling fell into a gorge near Thal in Didihat. In yet another instance, a motorcyclist, identified as Yakub from Shiv Nagar in Rampur, was killed when he was hit by a trawler on the Cinema Road in Gadarpur. His death sparked an instant protest with people demanding action against plying of overloaded vehicles on the road.

Info Dept braces for BJP publicity programmes
The completion of four years of the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in office on Tuesday will be marked by the publicity programmes at all the district headquarters and block headquarters. The government has planned to release another consignment of publicity material on the occasion. Truckloads of this material have already reached the offices of the Information Department across the state. The distribution of the publicity material, which eulogises the performance of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank-led government in the state, has become a tedious task for the officials as there are a few takers of such literature, which is often dumped at the block level offices. People have started questioning the relevance of such literature being published in large quantities.

Haldwani residents protest slow pace of project work
The township of Haldwani witnessed yet another protest from the people on the failure of the administration to execute the project to cover a canal. The protest, which was held on Sunday, was led by activists of the Youth Congress while a large number of people from rural as well as the urban areas participated in it. The work to cover the canal has been moving at a snail’s pace and repeated directions from the office of District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli and Kumaon Commissioner Kunal Sharma seems to have had no impact on the officials involved in the execution of the project. The people have had to face innumerable problems on account of the delay in the execution of the project with the areas where work is in progress becoming a hazardous zone for traffic.

Woman, daughter go missing
The police is trying to know the whereabouts of a woman and her daughter who went missing while travelling to Lucknow. According to the information, 40-year-old Disha Pant was returning home along with her 13-year-old daughter Garima Pant after visiting her brother in the Kusumkheda area of Haldwani. The two had boarded a train to Lucknow on March 1 but did not reach their destination. Legislator from Khatima Gopal Singh Rana faced the ire of the residents of the area who went on to ghearo him for the failure of the state government to address the issues pertaining to them. They alleged that despite the area being a tribesmen-dominated belt, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government had done nothing on the development front. They submitted a memorandum to the legislator seeking the construction of a bypass and preventive measures against floods and natural disasters besides. The legislator promised to raise their concerns in the Vidhan Sabha during the forthcoming Assembly session.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)