R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Woman found murdered: An unidentified woman in her forties was found murdered at Sher Shah Suri Nakhan Wala Bagh here today. She had injuries on her head and face. The police has registered a case of murder against unidentified persons. The police is making efforts to identify the woman.

CHANDIGARH

PU Campus pip DAV-10: PU Campus overcame DAV College, Sector 10, by one point during the ongoing Panjab University Inter-College Kho-Kho Tournament for Men being played at PU grounds here today. In another match of the day, SGGS College defeated GGDSD College by one point.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
2 held for rape: The police has arrested a driver of an autorickshaw and his friend for allegedly raping a minor girl while she was returning from her school in Faridabad. The two were overpowered by females collecting fodder in the nearby jungles and handed them over to the police with the help of villagers.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Samiti hails verdict on power share: The Himalaya Niti Abhiyan Samiti, an organisation devoted to the cause of dam oustees and those affected by large industrial houses in the state, has hailed the judgment of the Supreme Court allowing 7.19 per cent share in power from the BBMB projects.

Spot painting competition: Priyanka Chande, Vinod Kumar and Nisha Kumari were declared first, second and third, respectively in a spot painting competition organised by the Red Ribbon Club of the Government Post-Graduate College here on Thursday on the subject of “Menace of AIDS and Protection Against it”. Club convener Assistant Prof Surender Singh said in slogan-writing competition, Sanjana Kumari, Sharmila Sharma and Vishal Kaundal were first, second and third, respectively. Chief guest Principal RP Chopra, Professors Dhirender Gupta, Namrata Pathania and Saachi Sud were present.

8 shopkeepers challaned: Prakash Chand Sharma, Executive Officer, Nagar Parishad, on Thursday challaned eight shopkeepers for keeping polythene bags and other such materials in their shops. A total fine of Rs 4,000 was charged from them on the spot. He said this checking would continue occasionally with view to check any violation of this rule. He also told all shopkeepers and traders that plastic was also being banned from October 2.

Donations sought for ailing boy: Raj Pal Soni, a retired NGO leader in the district, has urged people in the state to come forward to save life of a young boy Rakesh, son of poor widow Usha Devi of Kuthed village in Kangra district, who is presently admitted at the PGI, Chandigarh, and fighting for his life as both of his kidneys are destroyed and he requires Rs 4.50 lakh for treatment. Soni said he had donated Rs 10,000 out of his pension and urged all to send donations for the family under Account No. 31807819025 of his brother Nirmal in the State Bank of India (SBI-Shuhni), bank code No. 9398 in Alhilal in Kangra district. He said CM Prem Kumar Dhumal had given Rs 1 lakh to Usha Devi when she met him. He said the phone contact No. was 94592-34922.

DC warns heads of schools: DC Ritesh Chauhan has warned heads of educational institutions and schools in the district who have not yet taken steps to demolish dilapidated school buildings and have not presented a report regarding the condition of rooms or buildings.

DHARAMSALA
Paragliding championship from Oct 16: The Pre-World Cup and Himalayan Open Paragliding championship will be held in the Bir Billing area of Kangra district from October 16 to 21. The event will be organised jointly by the Himachal Sports and Youth Affairs Department and the Aero Club India. Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, RS Gupta gave this information in a press note here recently.

Medical camp on Oct 2: A free multi-speciality medical examination camp will be organised by the Nav Prabhat, an NGO under the auspices of NIMS (Neurological Institute of Medical Science, Jallandhar, at the Radhakrishan Mandir complex, Dehra, on October 2. Veena Raina, president, Nav Prabhat, said cancer expert Praveen Kaur, neuro-surgeon Pankaj Trivedi, bone-specialist Rajesh Saggar, kidney specialist Rajesh Aggrawal, gynaecologist Rashmi Trivedi and physician Balwinder would render their services.

HAMIRPUR
Training camp for SSB exam qualifiers: The HP Ex-servicemen Corporation, Hamirpur, is holding a training camp for those candidates who have qualified the Service Selection Board examination of the UPSC. Chairman of the corporation MC Pramar said the camp would start from October 17 and candidates having NCC ‘C’ certificate and those students who had secured over 70 per cent marks in the Class XII examination could also attend the camp.

DM’s suspension revoked: The state government has revoked the suspension of Divisional Manager (DM), Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Hamirpur, Pankaj Singhal. The DM was suspended on the orders of Chief Minister PK Dhumal on September 1, for not remaining present at the headquarters during the CM’s tour to Hamirpur district on that day. Managing Director of HRTC Bharat Khera said, “The DM’s suspension had been revoked by the government and he has resumed the duty.”

Professor gets clean chit: The Registrar of NIT, Hamirpur, has clarified that a clean chit to Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department of the institute, indicted by the CBI, Gandhi Nagar, in his capacity as a member of the AICTE team which had given approval to the Bharad technical institute at Rajkot, was given on the recommendation of a committee constituted by the institute to look into merit of the case. He said the committee had averred that there was no malafide or wrong doing by the said professor.

SHIMLA
Tunnels to be built on priority: The construction of the three proposed tunnels will be taken up on a priority basis as these will not only shorten the distance, but are desirable from the point of view of environment protection. Stating this while presiding over a meeting of the PWD here on Monday to review the progress of work on various road projects in the state, PWD Minister Gulab Singh said efforts were on to complete the modalities for the tunnels to connect Bangana to Dhaneta, Karsehar to Telang (Bhubu Jot tunnel) on the Joginder-Ghatasani-Telang-Kullu road and Holi to the Utrala road at the earliest.

Gyan Preeksha from Oct 1: The annual Bhartiya Sanskriti Gyan Preeksha will be organised under the aegis of Shanti Kunj, Haridwar, throughout the state on October 1. This was said by Gayatri Parivar district convener Ramesh Tandon here on Wednesday. Tandon said this test would be organised in all schools of the state. The objective of this test was to encourage students to get more knowledge of their cultural history and varied heritage. Students of Class V to plus II could participate.

SOLAN
Solan to have indoor stadium: Solan will soon have an indoor stadium with Chief Minister PK Dhumal laying the foundation stone of a Rs 6.72-crore stadium on October 3. This was stated by Health and Ayurveda Minister Rajiv Bindal while addressing mediapersons here on Thursday. He said the stadium would be an asset to budding sportsmen. He said the CM would also inaugurate several other buildings, including an ayurveda hospital construted at a cost of Rs 4 crore. A 3-day multi-specialty health check-up camp would be organised at the local Ayurveda Hospital from October 3.

SUNDERNAGAR
Owners of five vehicles challaned: Five vehicles were on Wednesday challaned by SDM, Sundernagar, Vivek Chandel for carrying sand without any valid mining form and Rs 25,500 was realised on the spot as fine under the Mining Act. A team of officials, including SDM Chandel, Deputy SP Ajay Rana and SHO, BSL Colony, on Wednesday checked the vehicles on the Dhanotu- Baggi road.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
3 killed as jeep falls into gorge: Three persons were killed while another was injured when a jeep in which they were travelling fell into a gorge near the Palipuleey area in Deoprayag tehsil. The accident took place around 9.30 am.The jeep was going from Deoprayag to Kirtinagar.

3 leopard skins seized: Two persons were nabbed with a leopard skin in the Kaulagarh road area here. They have been identified as Amit Verma of Dehradun and Rahul Negi of Roorkee. The duo admitted that they had got the leopard skin from a resident of Gopeshwar in Chamoli District. In another incident, the Uttarkashi police arrested a person two leopard skins and other wildlife material.

Garhwali Ramlila from tomorrow: The Uttarakhand Film and Culture Development Association and the Himalayee Sanskriti Sarakshan Evam Shiksha Sansthan will organise Garhwali Ramlila in Garhwali Colony, Dehradun, from October 1 to 7. Folk artiste and chief convener Nandlal Bharti disclosed that it was for the first time in the past many years that Garhwali Ramlila would be organised in Dehradun. He said Ramlila was an effort on part of the Uttarakhand Film and Culture Development Association to promote the local dialect. He said the Garhwali dialect was fast going into oblivion due to decreasing number of its speakers. He said the seven-day affair would be inaugurated by Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and would have the presence of Gram Pradhans from Ladpur, Raipur and Nathanpur village areas. Nandlal Bharti said apart from daily staging of Garhwali Ramlila during evening hours, a cultural programme would also be held during the day which would include performances by Garhwali, Kumaoni and Jaunsari artistes. He said role of all female characters of Ramlila would be played by women artistes.

Street play staged: On the World Anti-Rabies Day, a nukkad natak was staged as a part of the awareness campaign organised by Sri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences and Sri Indresh Hospital. The medical students reached the Lakhi bagh area of the city and put up an impromptu play that gave tips on the steps needs to be taken in the event of a dog bite.

Students of SGRR Medical College stage a street play to make people aware of rabies on Anti-Rabies Day in Dehradun on Thursday.

Aryan School beat Hilton’s: Guru Nanak Academy will take on The Aryan School and Col Brown School will lock horns against The Heritage School in the semifinals of the ongoing Inter-Council School Sub-Junior Boys’ Football Tournament here. In today’s quarterfinals, The Aryan School beat Hilton's School 4-2 in a tiebreaker. Col Brown School beat Carman School, Dalanwala, 1-0, The Heritage School defeated Marshall School and Guru Nanak Academy trashed St Thomas’ College 5-0.

Kumaon Briefs
Education centres to be set up: Officials of the Education Department have been asked to create education centres for the forthcoming middle-level examinations at places where maximum students can turn up with minimum difficulty. A meeting in this regard was convened by District Magistrate Lalit Mohan Rayal on Thursday at Nainital, where he told the officials to make sure that the examinations are conducted in a transparent manner. As per the directions of the state administration, the centres are created in schools that have strength of 75 students. These can also be created in one of the two schools located in close proximity, having a joint strength of 75 students. This year 106 centres have been earmarked for the conduct of the examinations.

Sonali best swimmer: A one-day swimming meet was held at All Saints’ College, Nainital, on Thursday. The participants competed in various disciplines of swimming, including freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke and relays. Mahar Sandhu was declared the swimmer of the meet. Sonali Aggarwal was declared the best swimmer in the senior section, Mahar Sandhu in the middle section and Samar Ahmed in the junior section.

Traffic management plan: The traffic police in Haldwani has put in place a traffic management plan for the town. The town has been witnessing a total chaos on roads that have far more vehicles running on them than their actual capacity to handle the vehicular population. With large-scale encroachments on the roads, the worst affected lot is that of the pedestrians. Under the new plan, the zone from the OK Hotel on the Nainital road to Mangalpadav has been declared an auto-free zone. The auto stand at Mangalpadav has been shifted to the Patel Chowk road.

Eve teasing a nuisance in Haldwani: The area around Ranibagh in Haldwani has become a haven for drunkards who have become a nuisance for the local population. The residents are agitated over the drunkards resorting to eve teasing. On Wednesday evening, some miscreants allegedly fired in the air when the locals tried to ask them not to resort to eve teasing and use of abusive language. The police, while denying that there was any incident of firing, have related that there was a commotion that is being probed.

Preparations on for Oct 2: Preparations are on across the region for celebrating the birth anniversaries of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on Sunday (October 2). The district administrations and social organisations will organise programmes at various places. A series of seminars and lectures on the contribution of the two leaders in the making of modern India will also be held.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)