CHANDIGARH

CElected: Dr RS Bedi, a consulting pediatrician, has been elected president of the IMA, Chandigarh State Branch, for 2011-12. He is also president of the Chandigarh Nursing Home and Private Hospitals Association. He has also served as a fellow of the WHO (USA), where he was conferred Honorary Citizenship of Santa Cruz, California, the USA, for his work in the field of pediatrics. 

Awarded: Renuka B Salwan, deputy director (public relations), Bureau of Indian Standards, has been conferred Hall of Fame Award of the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI). 

Shakti Kapoor fined for smoking:Actor Shakti Kapoor was challaned by the Chandigarh police after he was found smoking in the Hotel Taj lobby last night. The actor was fined Rs 200 for smoking at public place. He was spotted smoking as he returned to the hotel after watching the semifinal match. The police said he agreed to pay the fine and said he was not aware of it being a restricted area. 

Panchkula
Office-bearers elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Haryana Government Retired Officers Welfare Association. President: Ravinder Sharma; senior vice-president: Rishi Raj; vice-president: MC Sethi; general secretary: Chander Bhan Pannu; secretary: BR Batra and organising secretary: Kamla Khunger Midha.

HARYANA

Ambala
Function: SD College, Ambala Cantt, held its annual prize distribution function on Wednesday. Shiv Raman Gaur, additional principal secretary to the Haryana Chief Minister, was the chief guest on the occasion. The chief guest lit the ceremonial lamp. He said education was must for every child. Gaur appreciated SD College for improving academic standards in the area. Sushmita Gaur, Hitesh Aggarwal and Ankita Rathi were honoured. Principal Dr Desh Bandhu proposed the vote of thanks.

BHIWANI
Tributes paid: Tributes were paid to a former Congress minister, the late Surender Singh, on his sixth death anniversary on Thursday. Kiran Choudhry, widow of the late leader and Excise and Taxation and Public Health Minister, paid tributes at Surender Singh Memorial at his native village, Golagarh, in this district. 

CHANDIGARH
DA up by 6%:Haryana Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav on Thursday announced to enhance the rate of the dearness allowance (DA) payable to state government employees from the existing 45 to 51 per cent. It will be given in cash with effect from January 1, 2011. Yadav said an increase of 6 per cent had been made in the dearness allowance for the employees on the pattern of Central employees. 

KAITHAL
Nine arrested: The police has arrested nine persons - three for carrying illegal arms, three for thefts and three for gambling - from different places during the past 24 hours. Those arrested have been sent to judicial custody. A police spokesperson said here on Thursday that Rohtash of Dhundva in Jind district, Dinesh of Sirta and Dhari, alias Ram Dhari, of Ghagga were arrested for carrying pistols. Monu of Subhash Nagar, Bijender of Nehru Garden Colony and Multan of Atela village were arrested from near the Siwan bypass and 18 new mobile phones with recharge coupons were seized from them. Tinku of Matagate, Satpal of Patti Khot and Naresh Kumar of Dogran Gate were arrested on a charge of gambling. 

REWARI
2 youths booked: Following a complaint loged by Pankaj Balmiki of Bharawas village on Wednesday, the Rampura police here has booked two youths, Manoj of Balawas Jat village and Manoj Kumar of Khedi Talwana village in Mahendergarh district, for allegedly enticing away the complainant’s teenaged daughter (17), a student of Class XII, from Bharawas village on March 14. 

SONEPAT
Booked for fraud: An amount of Rs 2.90 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from the bank accounts of Anil Kumar Sharma of the local Jain Bagh Colony allegedly by his brother Ashok and Shiv Kumar of the same colony in connivance with two bank officials, RK Dahiya of the PNB and Vinay Sachdeva, Branch Manager of Oriental Bank of Commerce at the local Mission road. On Anil Kumar’s complaint, a case has been registered against them in the City police station. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Srinagar
Man run over by train, killed: One person was run over by a train and killed near Humhama in Budgam district on Thursday. According to the police, Nazir Ahmad Ganai, a resident of the Humhama area, died on the spot. A case has been registered in this regard. 

Disaster management: A general awareness programme on disaster management was organised at the Battalion Headquarters of the Auxiliary police here on Thursday in which civilians, schoolchildren, besides the volunteers of the Civil Defence participated. During the awareness programme, Civil Defence volunteers gave demonstrations on raid warning system, firefighting, first aid, rescue operations and a civil mock drill. 

DEHRADUN

DEHRADUN
Double Murder Case: CJM Court sends accused  to Central Jail: Satyawan, who was arrested on Wednesday in the double murder case, was presented at the CJM Court here on Thursday and sent to the Central Jail, Suddhowala, for being an accomplice in the crime, while Ratan Singh, brother of the two deceased girls, is still absconding. Satyawan allegedly murdered his sisters Jagwanti Devi and Bhagwanti Devi on Wednesday by slitting their throats with a chopper over a property dispute at their residence at Kuanwala in Doiwala. According to the police, Ratan had come with Satyawan to his divorcée sisters’ place last night. However, following a property dispute, he along with his son-in-law, cut his two sisters’ throats. 

3 held for cheating in Board exam: A student of Pauri district, one of Haridwar district and another of Udham Singh Nagar district were held for cheating in the Class X Uttarakhand Board examination here on Thursday. The students were caught using unfair means during their mathematics examination by the flying squads. 

Protest against commercialisation of education: The local wing of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a demonstration here on Thursday at the office of the District Magistrate (DM) against the commercialisation of education. The protesters handed over a memorandum to the DM and demanded the closure of books and uniform stalls in public schools. The protesters accused the school authorities of commercialising their institution. 

Kumaon Briefs
Rs 1 lakh given to martyr’s wife, disabled soldier: The district administration in Udham Singh Nagar has handed over cheques worth Rs 1 lakh each to the dependents of a soldier and a disabled soldier as housing assistance. The cheques were handed over to Pushpa Devi, the wife of Naib Subedar Madhavanand who had made the supreme sacrifice, along with Lal Bahadur Chandra. The cheques were given to the two recipients by the District Magistrate (DM) Dr BVRC Purshottam on Thursday morning. Naib Sub Madhavanand was killed in a skirmish with the Pakistani forces on the Siachen glacier on February 23, 2001. Soldier Lal Bahadur Chandra was severely injured on August 20, 1990, when a shell had exploded very close to him and the splinters hit his head.

Dance troupes not allowed to perform during Attariya fair: The Udham Singh Nagar administration has declined to give permission to dance and Nautanki troupes to perform during the Attariya fair that is scheduled to be held at the Attariya Devi temple from April 11. The officials have been directed to make the required arrangements for the fair. The Police Department has been asked to deploy the requisite number of personnel at the venue and the roads leading to it, while officials working with various other departments have been asked to ensure that basic amenities are provided to the visitors to the fair. Particular emphasis is being laid on the purity of food stuffs that are to be sold at the venue along with the supply of clean drinking water.

Bagauli verifies district treasury at Nainital: The physical verification of the district treasury at Nainital was done by District Magistrate (DM) Shailesh Bagauli on Thursday. Bagauli personally inspected both the single and double-lock systems and verified the quantity of judicial and non-judicial stamp papers. He directed the Chief Treaurer to keep on inspecting the treasury at regular intervals. He also ordered that proper measures be taken for fire fighting and security. The inspection is a routine annual exercise.

UKD blocks rail traffic on Tanakpur-Pilibhit section: Activists of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD)-Diwakar Bhatt faction resorted to blocking of the rail traffic on the Tanakpur-Pilibhit section on Wednesday. They were demanding the gauge conversion on the Bareilly-Tankpur stretch. They sent a memorandum in support of their demand to Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee through the Railway authorities. The agitators have stated that the demand for gauge conversion is very old, but has been ignored persistently by the Railway Ministry. They claim that the gauge conversion will lead to saving of time of commuters and will prove to be a boon for the newly sprung-up industrial units in the region.

Abduction, rape case filed against 4 youths: The Rudrapur police has registered a case of abduction and rape against four youths of the Bhootbangla area. The case has been registered following directions from a court. According to information, a woman resident from the area has alleged that four youngsters had abducted her minor daughter on February 3 and raped her while keeping her in their custody. When she became pregnant, they got her married to someone and forced her to abort her foetus. Those booked are Siddiq, Riyasat, Shahid and Sajjad. Police investigations are on in the matter.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)