R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Moga
Moga councillor roughed up: House meeting of the Moga Municipal Council was disrupted for a couple of hours following scuffle between a councillor and employees of the local body. The employees who were protesting against vice-president Anil Bansal outside the meeting hall turned violent when a councillor Balbir Singh indulged into a verbal duel with them. The councillor was allegedly beaten up by the employees. One table and some window panes of a room were broken during the scuffle. 

HARYANA

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
House-cum-shop collapses: Shyam Lal of Tangar village in Dhar Tatoh gram panchayat, near here, lost property worth Rs 10 lakh when his three-storey house-cum-shop suddenly collapsed due to heavy consistent downpour in the area on Wednesday. Reports said Shyam was about to start his service station in his roadside house-cum-shop when one of the pillars of his house collapsed and with it the entire building. Led by village elders, panchayat president Parma Nand has urged the district administration and the government to provide immediate financial help to the affected family. 

Body found from Gobind Sagar: A body, which was located floating in the Gobind Sagar near Ghanolla village under Talai police station on July 18 by villagers, has been found to be that of Havildar Sher Singh (38) of Salgram village, Udaypur tehsil, Lahaul-Spiti. Reports said his body was recognised by his brother Rajender Singh and other relatives on Wednesday. Sher Singh was missing since July 10. They said Sher Singh seemed to have taken his life as his wife was found dead in his rented house at Bhuntar (Kullu) on July 10. Sher Singh was in Dogra Scouts unit and posted at Jhakadi in Himachal from where Army officers are arriving here to take charge of his body. 

Truck driver goes missing: Ram Krishan Rana, a truck driver, of Badgaon village, near here, has been missing since Wednesday along with his fully loaded truck (HP-23-1958), which is said to have swerved from the road and fallen into the flooded Sutlej between Barmana and Sallappad on the NH-21 (Bilaspur-Mandi road). The police has registered a case. The truck was carrying rolled iron rods from Gobindgarh, Punjab, to Kullu and had just left Barmana when the accident took place. 

NURPUR
Two held with illicit liquor:The Indora police of this subdivision seized 80,000 ml of illicit liquor during police patrolling at Khanpur Ulaharian under Thakurdwara police station on Thursday. According to DSP Rajinder Jaswal, the police has recovered 40,000 ml illicit liquor each from the possession of Dharmender and Gagan of the same village. They had been arrested and a case under the Excise Act lodged against them. 

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Women cops may have new uniform : The Uttarakhand Police is contemplating changing the uniform of the women cops according to their convenience. Director General of Police (DGP) Jyoti Swaroop Pandey said: “At present, they have trousers and shirts as a uniform for women cops. However, we will ask them for suggestions regarding the new uniform, following which we will send a proposal to the state government.” The DGP said the uniforms of women cops in others states would also be kept in mind while deciding on the matter. 

Chain snatched: In yet another incident of chain snatching, an elderly woman was targeted by two motorcycle-borne miscreants in the Nehrugram area. The victim, Sundari Devi has said she was returning home from a nearby area on the Wednesday night when two persons, who were riding a bike, snatched her chain. Before she could react or raise the alarm, they fled from the spot. Later, she lodged a complaint with the police. The cops from the Nehru Colony police station inspected the spot and looked for the two. However till the filing of the report no success could be made in their arrest. 

Wall collapses: A wall at an open place near a residential area in Brahamawala collapsed due to heavy rain. However, no one was injured in the incident. The police rushed to the spot after it got the information about the wall collapse. The cops said no one was present near the wall when it collapsed. The debris was later removed from there. 

Kumaon Briefs

Bageshwar
Statehood agitators await certificates: A total of 352 identified statehood agitators in the district of Bageshwar on Thursday met the SDM and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister demanding issuing of certificates to them. “We have been demanding the certificates of statehood agitators for the past five years but despite the inquiry by the local intelligence agencies and the administration, we have not been issued the certificates. We have not been able to avail the facilities being provided to the statehood agitators like medical facilities due to want of these certificates,” said Puran Chandra Pathak, a statehood agitator.

Champawat
Villagers demand potable water: Villagers of Kari, a remote village situated near the Indo-Nepal border in Champawat district, have threatened to launch an agitation against the failure of the administration to provide them safe drinking water. The villagers allege that they are being compelled to drink contaminated water, as the only drinking water source used to feed the village has been damaged for the past eight months. “Despite repeated memoranda to the district administration, Champawat, the Jal Sansthan workers have not repaired the water source compelling the villagers to drink impure water from open sources,” said Hira Devi, a Block Development Commiittee (BDC) member from the village.

Haldwani
Gangster Pandey network  under scanner: The Haldwani police has decided to investigate into the network of Parkash Pandey alias PP, a notorious gangster considered to be close to don Chhota Rajan. The activities of Pandey, who is in jail, have again come into focus following the arrest of Deepak Sisodia from Haldwani who provided arms to assailants in the journalist murder case in Mumbai. “The network of PP has become suspicious since he has been involved in extortion in the area for the past one decade. The police will investigate his network and the nature of criminal activities and the involvement of his gang in other criminal activities on the Indo-Nepal border,” said RS Meena, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kumoan.

Six girls held for flesh trade: The local police has unearthed a high-profile sex racket being run from a posh colony in the city by arresting six girls and two youths from a house of the colony on Wednesday night. The woman owning the house was also arrested. All the culprits have been arrested and sent to jail. The arrested girls aged between 18 and 22 years hailed from Siliguri and Delhi, according to the police.

Ranikhet
Protesters adamant  on separate dists: The sit-in agitation by the people of Ranikhet and Dwarahat, demanding the creation of separate districts at both places completed its 188th and 184th days on Thursday. “This time the people of Ranikhet have decided not to end their agitation till the government fulfils its promise of creating a separate district,” said Vipin Chandra Sharma, who led the agitation in front of the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ranikhet. Meanwhile, “Zila Banao Samiti” volunteers in Dwarahat continued their dharna demanding a separate Dwarahat district. “We need a separate district at Dwarahat as the area was neglected by the respective governments after the independence of the country,” said Pratap Singh Bisht, who led the peaceful dharna at the office of SDM, Dwarahat.

Tanakpur
Women attack forest officials: Fearing attacks by wild animals near their houses due to plantation of bamboo saplings, resident of Tanakpur and Banabasa under the East Terai forest division on Thursday attacked the forest workers doing plantation near their area and uprooted nearly 2,500 bamboo saplings. “We want the bamboo sapling be planted four km away from the village area. Villagers and their crops often become the victim of the attack by wild animals,” said Shanti Devi, a resident of Gari Goth village in Banbasa. The forest officials have lodged a complaint against 35 women in this connection with the police. “The bamboo saplings were being planted under the ‘Bamboo Project’ of the Union Environment and Forest Ministry in an area of 40 hectare,” said Dev Singh Shahi, a forest official.

(Compiled by BD Kasniyal)