HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
CM’s aid for poor patient:Chief Minister PK Dhumal today sanctioned Rs 1.75 lakh to a poor patient, Rattan Singh, a resident of Ghato village in Sirmaur district, to enable him to undergo a hip replacement surgery.Dhumal sanctioned the required funds from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

DEHRADUN

CBI arrests officer involved in road construction scam: The CBI arrested a senior officer of Construction Company involved in road construction worth of crores in Leh-Ladakh. As per sources, the CBI arrested the officer from Dehradun on Tuesday evening. The CBI had been after the officer since the scam unfolded in Leh-Ladakh. It got success in nabbing him on Tuesday only. 

Man critically injured in road accident: A whitewash man in his 40s got critically injured when a city bus knocked him down from behind here Tuesday evening at Baliwala Chowk. According to information, Mohmmad Younis, a resident of Deep Lok Colony, was heading to his house on foot after doing his day’s work when he was hit by the bus. He has been admitted at the Doon Hospital in a serious condition.

UJVNL records highest power generation: Breaking its previous records, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) generated 283.847 million units (MU) electricity as against its target of 256.750 MU for February. Last February, UJVNL had generated 247.7691 MU. Vimal Dabral, PRO, said, “The financial year 2010-11 had proved fruitful for UJVNL, as it generated record total 4,519.097 MU against the proposed 4,415.750 MU through its hydro-projects”. MD GP Patel admired the hard work and dedication of all the employees of the nigam.

Kumaon Briefs

Theatrical bonanza to pay homage to Nirmal Pande
A two-day theatrical bonanza organised to pay homage to Bollywood actor Nirmal Pande who hailed from the Lake City began in Nainital on Tuesday evening. Pande, an alumnus of the National School of Drama (NSD), passed away a year back. Besides having done theatre in Nainital, Delhi, Mumbai, London and other cities, he is remembered for some excellent performances in movies like “Bandit Queen”, “Godmother”, “Is Raat ki Subah Nahin” and “Daayra”. Although Nirmal died on February 18 last year, his death anniversary as per the Hindu astrological calculations is falling on March 9. There will be a series of presentations, including two from passouts of the NSD “Koi Baat Chale” and a solitary performance by Alok Chatterjee named “Aisa Hi Hota Hai”, during the two-day event.

Police takes 10 hours to remove body from tree
People of Baignaiyan village near Someshwar are agitated over the fact that it took more than 10 hours for the authorities to take down the body of a woman who had committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Police personnel had failed to turn up at the spot as they had been deputed for making law and order arrangements for Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s visit to Almora. The 26-year-old woman, identified as Tara Devi, had allegedly hanged herself on the night intervening Sunday and Monday. She had gone out of her house after cooking dinner on Sunday night and not returned since then. Her body was later found hanging from a tree. It was a miserable sight for people passing by to see a corpse hanging from a tree near the Tehsil office and no one to take it away. It was only later in the day that the body was removed.

Uttarakhand Guerrillas seek regular employment
SSB-trained Guerrillas in the state, who have been agitating for more than a year, staged massive demonstrations in Bageshwar and Almora on Monday. They held protests in support of their demands and later submitted memorandums addressed to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and state Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank through the local administration. They charged that while their counterparts in the North-Eastern and some other states had been provided with regular employment, all that the Guerrillas of Uttarakhand had got till now were empty promises. Earlier, this year Congress Lok Sabha members from Almora and Nainital had taken up the long-pending demands of the SSB-trained Guerrillas of the state with Chidambaram. Both Pradeep Tamta and KC Singh Baba had written letters to the Home Minister asking him to solve the problems of the affiliates of the Guerrilla Warfare Organisation of Uttarakhand.

Mother saves 4-year-old child from bear
A case of a woman facing a bear to save her child from the animal has been reported from the Jhoolaghat area of Pithoragarh district. The incident took place in the adjoining village of Sangri falling in Nepal where a bear had attacked Dhana Devi’s four-year-old child in the courtyard of their house. She managed to pull the child away from the clasp of the bear and was seriously injured in the act. The animal fled when more people arrived after hearing screams from the house. The mother and son are being treated at a hospital in Jhoolaghat.

Two killed in Rudrapur road accidents
Two persons were killed in separate road accidents reported from Rudrapur in the past 24 hours. According to information, Umesh Giri was killed when he was run over by a bus near the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) area. He was 32 years of age. Two of his accomplices were injured in the accident. In another incident, 40-year-old Buddhu Urav was run over by an unknown vehicle near Haldi when he was returning home on his bicycle.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)