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Bathinda
Awarded: Prof. Harbhajan Singh, who runs the noted Harbhajan Institute of Competition, has been selected for the Glory of India award, which will be presented to him in Thailand for his services to society in the education sector. The award will be presented by the Indian International Friendship Society. (IIFS). He has also been invited for a friendship banquet in Bangkok on March 26.

Annual Day: The Little Kingdom Nursery School celebrated its Annual Day on March 13. The function started with a prayer song. Principal Shuchita Grover said education is a vital tool that helps one to excel. She said the school had tied up with Xseed, which is helping 500 schools with curriculum and teaching, for LKG and UKG and the classes would commence from current session.

Hoshiarpur
MC chief’s appeal to Kalia: In a joint press release here today, president and vice-president of the municipal council, Hoshiarpur, Shiv Sud and Manjit Kaur, respectively, and councillor Surjit Kumar Bangar urged the Punjab Local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia to call the leaders of striking employees of the corporations and councils and consider their demands sympathetically at the earliest. They also discussed the issue with the Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research Tikshan Sud for getting the matter resolved. They said the council had already sent the case for regularising the services of all those safai sewaks who had been working under mohalla committees.

Police remand: Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, of Dalewal PS Goraya, district Jalandhar, wanted by the Hoshiarpur police in many cases, was brought from Kapurthala police on production warrant yesterday. Gurpreet Singh was produced in the local court which sent him to police remand up to March 17. He confessed to his involvement in 14 robbery and snatching cases in of Punjab and Haryana.

Jalandhar
Two of Topi gang held: The Jalandhar (Rural) police arrested two members of notorious Topi gang, who had been eluding the police for the past over three months. The due have been identified as Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Bulley-ki-Rurkan village near Goraya, and Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Kalyanpur, near Phillaur. The due were arrested with two country-made pistols by a police party near Sanghowal village yesterday. In a press note, the SSP (Rural) said the due were involved in robberies in Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur districts. The police has registered a case under the Arms Act against them at the Bhogpur police station. The police said further investigations are on.

LUDHIANA
Elected: Senior vice-president of the PAU Employees’ Union Lakhwinder Singh Sandhu has been unanimously elected as chairman of the PAU Employees’ Federation. A general body meeting of PAU Employees’ Federation was called under the founder chairman of the federation Avtar Singh Deol.

Baby Show: Anushka, a student of pre-nursery Spring Dale Senior Secondary Public School, Sherpur road, bagged first prize in the baby show conducted by Municipal Corporation here today.

Mohali
Pensioners to protest today: To expose anti-pensioner policies of the Punjab Government, the pensioners of the state will take out a rally on March 16 near YPS, Mohali. The general secretary of the Punjab Government Pensioners Association, appealed to the pensioners of Mohali and the nearby areas to join them at the Lightpoint Chowk of Phases 7 and 8 near the petrol pump at 10.30 am tomorrow.

Muktsar
Convocation held: Guru Nanak College for Girls held its 36th annual convocation under the presidentship of Avtar Singh, President, SGPC, on Monday. RC Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Gurmohan Singh, Director, Directorate of Education, SGPC, delivered the convocation address. Principal Tejinder Kaur read the annual report of the college. Environment Day dedicated to Gurpurv of Guru Har Rai Sahib was also celebrated. A plant is also given to each degree holder.

PHILLAUR
Honoured: A total of 431 trainees of Punjab, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Sikkim and Shashtar Seema Bal passed out in various courses in Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur. Academy director Rohit Chaudhary took salute from the trainees at an annual passing out parade here on Tuesday. Ten trainees were honoured and awarded for their performances in various courses. Deputy Director Rupinder Singh read out the annual report. Joint director Dr DJ Singh and other senior police officers were also present.

Phagwara
Centre found locked: The sub health centre of Bahani village was found locked during an inspection conducted by SDM Amarjeet Paul today. The SDM made surprise inspections at schools, anganwari centres and dispensaries in Ranipur, Barna and Bahani villages.

Tarn Taran
INA member dead: Gujjar Singh (92), member of the Indian National Army (INA), expired at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar here today. The body was cremated at his native village Sabhra, 40 km from here, with state honours. The aged freedom fighter had been ill for the past many days.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Forest fire triggers mine blasts: At least three land mines exploded along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Balakote sector of Poonch district on Monday due to a forest fire that started from occupied Kashmir. Official sources said a fire lit by farmers in the PoK to burn wild growth spread to the Indian territory and as a result at least three land mines exploded along the LoC. However, the fire was brought under control by Army troops.

Srinagar
Militants attack security forces in Sopore: Militants hurled two grenades at a CRPF deployment and the police at Sopore town in Baramulla district on Tuesday, officials said. The ultras hurled two grenades at the deployment of 177 Battalion of the CRPF and the police in the Haathishah area of Sopore town, 55 km from here, around 12.40 pm. The grenades exploded by the roadside without causing any damage. No militant group had claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Man arrested with fake currency: The police arrested a person with counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 98,000 in Kupwara on Tuesday. A police spokesman said Mohammad Abdullah Gujri, a resident of Herwan at Sopore in Kupwara, was arrested and fake currency notes amounting to Rs 98,000 were seized from his possession. Another person, Javid Ahmad Mir, a resident of Bunhama, managed to escape. A case has been registered in this regard.

DEHRADUN

Info sought from Japanese Embassy: The state government has contacted the Japanese Embassy to gather information about people of Uttarakhand trapped in Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami. Vice-president, Uttarakhand Expatriate Welfare Committee, Puran Chander Nailwal said, “Since they do not have any record about the number of people of Uttarakhand living in Japan, they were not having any information about the well-being of these people”. Nailwal gave his mobile number 09650647400 and fax number 011&23012590 to enable people to get information about their kin living in Japan.

Nurses call off agitation: The Uttarakhand Government on Tuesday accepted in principle to implement Sixth Pay Commission for the nursing staff forcing them to call off their agitation. “We have received a written order, therefore from today we have called off our stir,” said Anjana Bhowmick, gen secy, Uttarakhand Nurses Services Association.

Dowry case filed against in-laws: A resident of the Race Course lodged a complaint with police against her in-laws for allegedly demanding Rs 50 lakh in dowry and torturing her. Victim Jasmeet Kaur complained against Inderjeet Singh and his family. The police has registered a case.

PITHORAGARH
Leopard cub captured: A leopard cub, which strayed into a colony, was captured alive by forest officials in the GIC Road area of the town on Tuesday. “The leopard cub seems to have been separated from its family and in order to find them proceeded towards the town from a small rivulet,” said TGS Sambandham, DFO, Pithoragarh.

Kumaon Briefs
Lack of regular water supply irks residents: The township of Haldwani continues to witness public protests over the failure of the administration to provide them with a regular water supply. The town saw a massive protest from women of the Bithauriya area who came out with pails and utensils and blocked the Lal Danth Road on Monday afternoon. They were agitated over the fact that the Jal Sansthan had failed to lay down water supply pipe. The work on laying down this pipeline had started more than a month back and people had been facing water crisis ever since. The women have threatened to resort to a hunger strike if the water supply is not resumed at the earliest.

Mohan Pal is BSP candidate from Bhimtal: Taking a lead in the preparations for the forthcoming Assembly polls, scheduled to be held in less than a year, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has declared its first candidate in Mohan Pal. He will be contesting from the Bhimtal Assembly segment. The announcement for his candidature was made by the state unit president of the party Dr Meghraj Singh at a function held in the Mallital area of Bhimtal. Pal has been working actively in the constituency for the past several months and his candidature is on expected lines. Having performed reasonably well in plain areas of the state in the last two Assembly polls, the BSP is now desperate to get a foothold in hill areas of the state.

Forest Department officials pelted with stones: Officials of the Forest Department bore the brunt of public anger when they tried to stop an illegal construction of a temple near Haldwani on Monday. According to information, the officials had stopped certain people from giving a concrete shape to the temporary structure of the temple. They demolished the roof that was being constructed. This led to people pelting stones at them. The officials had to flee the spot. They claim that the area was a protected forest land and construction in any form was prohibited.

Govt apathy in constructing road, villagers gherao XEN: Residents of Chhatarpur village in Udham Singh Nagar are agitated over the failure of the government to construct a road from the village to a Harijan settlement nearby. They allege that the proposal to construct the road had been cleared by the previous government led by Narayan Dutt Tiwari and even tenders had been called. But the construction work on the proposed road was yet to take off. The villagers gheraoed the Executive Engineer (XEN) of the PWD on Monday. The villagers want the work on the road to be started within next fortnight.

Gang of vehicle lifters busted, 2 arrested: The Nainital police, in co-ordination with the Special Operations Group (SOG), busted a gang of auto lifters and arrested two persons. According to information, the arrested persons were indentified as Trilok Bora of Tanakpur and Jagat Singh Aswal of Bhikiyasain in Almora. Their third accomplice, Vinod from Noida, is absconding. According to the police, the trio was involved in lifting vehicles from Noida, Nainital and Khatima. They have been accused of lifting 15 vehicles and selling off 14 of these in Nepal. The police has managed to recover one stolen vehicle from them. The two were nabbed at the Hanuman Garhi area following a tip off. At the time of arrest, they were taking a vehicle to Nepal. The accused are known to be leading a lavish lifestyle in the Lake City.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)