HARYANA

Rewari
Residents protest:Irate residents of Sector 6, Dharuhera, held a demonstration near the district secretariat here today. Suresh Kumar, president of the Residents Welfare Association; Prem Das Lodhi, a municipal councillor of Dharuhera, and others raised anti-government slogans. They deplored that their repeated requests to the HUDA authorities to make adequate arrangements for discharge of the town’s dirty water that had accumulated in their colony had gone unheeded. Later, they presented a memorandum to ADC J Ganeshan. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Labourer dies in freak mishap: A poor labourer died on the spot when he slipped from the path on Hibradhar hillside in the Bharmour tribal region of the district and fell into a 300-m-deep gorge on Wednesday evening. He has been identified as Pritam of Hibra village in Bharmour.

MANDI
Woman falls into khad, dies: Malka Devi (52), wife of Khayali Ram of Ratkel village, who worked as a daily wager with the PWD, Sarkaghat, on Monday fell into the Sadhot khad while crossing it and died. According to the police, her body was found 6 km downstream at Dawardu. The police handed over the body to her family members after postmortem and ruled out any foul play in the mishap. 

SHIMLA
HP girls to get karate training: The Frontier Group and its flagship company, Frontier Investments & Capital Advisors, Singapore, has decided to provide Rs 25 lakh per annum to sponsor a three-year programme to provide karate training to girls in Himachal Pradesh. The initiative has been taken by Rajinder Singh, founder chairman of the group, who hails from the hill state. Rajinder is a patron of the Shimla-based Jundokan Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Federation of India (JGKFI). 

GEI recognised for medical claim: The state government has recognised the local Grewal Eye Institute (GEI) for medical reimbursement to its employees, pensioners and their dependants. It is the first eye hospital of the northern region to be empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme. 

DEHRADUN

DEHRADUN
Lokayukt calls on Alva: The Lokayukt, Justice MM Ghildiyal (retd), on Monday called on Governor Margaret Alva, who has recently resumed her duties after a month-long leave. He informed the Governor that the recommendations made by the Lokayukt pertaining to some complaints had not been implemented at any level. 

Chain-snatching incident: Another chain-snatching incident was reported in the city from the Patelnagar area on Sunday. Rochipura residents, Purnima Jain and Sandeep Jain, had gone to Lal Pull Sabzi Mandi and were on their way back home on a scooter when they were targeted. A black Pulsar came from behind and the pillion rider snatched the chain of the woman, the police said. Before she could react, the miscreants fled. Sandeep chased after the bikers, but in vain. Later, the police was informed of the matter. 

Meeting of childline panel: At a meeting of the Childline Adviser Committee, District Magistrate Sachin Kurve was asked to open homes for children facing adverse circumstances. The Coordinator of Parvartiya Bal Manch, Dwarika Prasad Noni, said the setting up of such homes would be of immense help to children in the age group of 10 years and above. He also asked the DM to issue identity cards to members of childline. He also asked the Health Department to provide free medical aid to children found by Childline 1098. 

Kumaon Briefs

Sex racket busted at Haldwani, five held: The police has busted a sex racket at Haldwani and arrested five of its members, including the woman who had been running the same in the Kalavati Colony area for the past one year. They were arrested following a raid on a bungalow. The racket was allegedly being run by Meena Kaur. Further investigations are on.

High voltage: Fire in cable TV control room: A fire broke out in a cable television control room at Bhimtal on Sunday evening. The cause of the fire is said to be high voltage. Several electronic devices destroyed in the fire. According to reports, showing presence of mind, some persons on seeing the flames in the control room shut off the main switch. The sudden outbreak of fire also led to power disruption in the entire area. The incidents of electronic appliances being destroyed on account of voltage fluctuations have become common in the area. The people have been demanding a permanent solution to this problem.

VAT: Cloth merchants to observe closure on Aug 9: In protest against the state government’s decision to impose VAT on cloth, cloth merchants in the region have decided to observe closure on August 9. The closure call has been given by the Uttarakhand Kapda Vyapar Mahasangh. On Monday, cloth merchants from Ramnagar also gathered at the venue of a function being attended by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank to air their resentment against the move. They also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister.

Horse carts carrying illegally mined material impounded: The Haldwani administration has impounded seven horse carts that were being used for carrying illegally mined material from the Gaula river basin. The step is a part of a drive being carried out to check illegal quarrying in the basins of various rivers. The owners of the carts managed to flee. The carts were impounded at Indranagar and Rajpura gates of the Gaula mining area.

Student to be honoured for planting maximum saplings: The state government has decided to honour a Class VIII student from Dhaurara near Garud in Bageshwar district for planting the maximum number of trees. Thirteen-year-old Babloo would be given Rs 5,000 besides a roll of honour. It has also decided to give Rs 1 lakh each to three schools for taking afforestation. The schools to be rewarded are Public Inter College at Surhet in Pauri, Senior Primary School at Dhaurara and Government Inter-college at Khumera in Rudraprayag. These schools would be given the Tarushree Samman. (Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)