R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Cleanliness drive: Students of DAV International School conducted a cleanliness drive in the school premises today. School principal Anjana Gupta said the drive was launched to make the young realize their responsibility towards the environment. She said the students were divided into teams to clean the area. Besides disposing off the garbage, withered and worn out plants were replaced with fresh saplings and the nearby parks were also cleaned, she added.

Talk show: Holy Heart Presidency School organised a talk-show to celebrate Hindi Day. Students of Class VII took part in the show. Vinod Kumar Tanej, former head of the Hindi department of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, was the chief guest. Students expressed their views on the importance of Hindi Divas followed by a discussion on fashion, advertisement, cramming in school, female foeticide and corruption in politics.

Hoteliers’ convention: Over 300 leading hoteliers and Tour Operators of the country are expected to take part in the three-day first Hotel and Restaurant Association of North India (HRANI) Convention from September 23. The office-bearers of the HRANI today held a meeting under the chairmanship of its president SS Shirvani to review arrangements.

Bathinda
Sr citizens adopt student from poor family: The Senior Citizens Council, at its general meeting, decided to establish a welfare wing to be headed by Niranjan Singh Khurmi. The president of the council Prof DS Mastana said the council had decided to adopt a class VII student hailing from a poor family. The girl would be provided scholarship, school uniform, stationary and shoes. Sat Narain and RD Gupta also spoke on the occasion. A colourful programme was held to mark the occasion. It was directed by Satwant Kaur. 

Jalandhar
Book release: A book ‘Punjab Ke Hindi Natak Ka Sanskritik Vivechan’ wriiten by Dr Avinash Chander Sharma was released posthumously at a function held at Apeejay College of Fine Arts today. Apeejay College of Fine Arts principal Dr Sucharita Sharma said it was her brother’s dream to see this book published.

BWWA Day celebrated: BSF Headquarters, Punjab Frontier, today celebrated BSF Wives Welfare Association (BWWA) Day on Wednesday. Wives of the BSF martyrs were honoured on the occasion. BWWA president Satwinder Kaur inaugurated the function. 

Smart class inaugurated: A smart class was inaugurated at CJS Public School by Gurcharan Singh Channi, chairperson of the marketing committee, Jalandhar. Schoolchildren presented a cultural programme.

Hockey stars honoured: Guru Amar Dass Public School, Model Town, Jalandhar, honoured the members of the Indian hockey team that won the inaugural Asian Championship. Those honoured were Rajinder Singh, Dronacharya Awardee, Ravi Pal Singh, Sarvan Singh and Manpreet Singh. International hockey player Gurvinder Singh was also honoured at the occasion. Rajinder Singh also motivated students to actively participate in sports to be physically, emotionally and mentally fit.

Mohali
SGPC poll Shootout victim dies: Amandeep Singh, who was injured in a shootout after polling for the SGPC elections at Kurali on Sunday, succumbed to his injuries at the PGI, Chandigarh, today. A case under Section 302 of the IPC had now been registered against the assailants.

CHANDIGARH

CHANDIGARH
Chemistry day: Chemistry day was organised at KV, Zirakpur, in connection with IYC 2011. MK Garg, senior scientist from CGWB, visited the school to deliver a talk on underground water. He stressed upon conservation of water and gave techniques to save water.

Monetary donation for NGO: Students of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, collected a voluntary donation of Rs 1,15,000 for HelpAge India. Principal Shashi Banerjee, along with staff handed over the donation to Bhavneshwar Sharma, state head of HelpAge India, who informed that the money will be used to provide free health services to older people. Bhavan Vidyalaya is the first school in the tricity to form SAVE (school advocacy value education) committee in order to spread awareness and to promote value education in the school. 

Chain snatcher takes car, too: A snatcher, posing as a newspaper vendor on foot, allegedly snatched the chain of 65-yr-old Pushpa Singla at Sector 11 here and also fled with her Corolla car, parked in her house this morning. A complaint has been submitted at the Sector-11 police station in this regard.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
3 houses razed in Lohiya Nagar: A team of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) bulldozed three pucca houses in Lohiya Nagar here on Wednesday. They were constructed on the corporation’s land. Other than this, the team also demolished a house located at Shastri Nagar as it was built on the drain. The team then went to Miterlok Colony where a few residents had encroached around two bigha land, which was also vacated. Residents of Darbhanga slums, who claimed to be putting up there for the past 20 years, had been asked to leave the place within two days. The encroachers opposed the drive and had an altercation with the team but when the officials asked them to show the papers, they failed to produce these.

Credit cards: A district-level meeting was organised by Chief Development Officer, Indudhar Bhadoi, here on Wednesday. He asked bank officials to promote the credit card facility and provide them to farmers. He said training camps would be organised for officials and other employees to train them in making credit cards at Doiwala and Raipur on September 22, at Sahaspur and Vikas Nagar on September 23, at Kalsi on September 24 and at Chakrata on September 26. 

MUSSOORIE
Leopard scare: Five employees of the Energy Audit Department who were working near the Bansi estate ran to safety when they had an encounter with a leopard on Wednesday. According to the DFO, Mussoorie, Ram Gopal Verma, they were conducting a survey near forests when a leopard started growling at them. They left the  work and ran to safety inside the house situated nearby.

Anti-polio drive: The administration, the Health Department and other social organisations have decided to launch a door-to-door campaign to administer polio drops to children in the age group of 0-5 years. It will begin from September 25 under the supervision of the SDM, Mussoorie, Mohan Singh Barnia.

Kumaon Briefs
Smuggled liquor seized: large scale recovery of smuggled liquor has been made by the Haldwani police and Railway Police Force personnel. It is learnt that the police recovered five boxes of allegedly smuggled liquor from a car belonging to Manoj of Subhash Nagar locality. On the other hand, the RPF personnel stumbled upon one suitcase and two boxes of liquor lying abandoned in the Ranikhet Express. They were carrying out a routine check when they found the abandoned liquor.

Two arrested for assault: The Lal Kuan police finally arrested two shopkeepers accused of beating and then torturing a labourer for misappropriating Rs 3000. Bunty and Shunty Bhatia were arrested on Tuesday. The incident has led to a public outcry in the area with protests erupting in various parts of the town. 5 injured in accident Five persons were injured when a car fell into a gorge near Suyalbari on the Khairna-Almora road. The villagers rescued the travellers and called the 108 ambulance service and took the injured persons to Almora. One of the injured, Kaushik, is being treated at Base Hospital there. The road leading to Almora continues to be a driver’s nightmare even after one year of it having been devastated in a rain related disaster. It has turned into a high-risk zone.

Six sustain burn injuries: Six persons sustained burn injuries when an LPG cylinder caught fire in a house located near the Kitcha railway station in Udham Singh Nagar. The injured are being treated at a hospital in Haldwani. The incident took place while Reeta was cooking food in the small house. The fire that started from the cylinder engulfed the entire house. Two of the injured are said to be small children.

Cobras released: A large number of the young ones of a King Cobra have been released in the forests around Nainital. The laying of eggs by a King Cobra near Jyolikote had made headlines in the local media a couple of months back. The eggs were monitored by experts till they hatched. Experts and officials of the Forest Department carried out examination of the young before they were released in the forests of Maheshkhan, Patwadangar, Bhawali and Gethia.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)