R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandigarh
Mukul appointed AFT member: Air Marshal SC Mukul (retd) has been appointed as an administrative member of the Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

LUDHIANA
‘Increase pension’: The Universal Human Rights Organisation has urged the government to hike the monthly pension of Rs 250 being given to senior citizens and widows to Rs 5,000 per month, as had been announced for terrorist victims and riot-affected persons.

Power shutdown: The 11 KV Kashmir Nagar feeder fed from 66 KV Transport Nagar sub-station will be shut down for urgent repairs and maintenance on December 8 from 10 am to 3 pm. During this period, the power supply to areas, including Gaushala Road, Kashmir Nagar and Harbans Pura, will be affected.

Nawanshahr
Medical camp: The Guru Nanak Mission International Charitable Trust, Kulpur-Nawangran, organised a free medical check-up camp to mark the birth anniversary of its president Dr Budh Singh Dhahan. A team of doctors went to the Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Chandpur Rurki, being run by the trust and examined more than 150 patients suffering from various ailments. Free medicines were given to the needy patients.

Workshop ends: The KC College of Education organised a three-day workshop on “Personality development and communication skills,” which concluded on Wednesday. Dr Anita Verma, Principal, presided over the workshop.

Patiala
Subdivisions to have new complexes: Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today announced that the state government would open the subdivisional complexes across all subdivisions in the state. Speaking to mediapersons, after laying the foundation stone of a subdivisional complex at Rajpura, Sukhbir said to provide all facilities under one roof, the SAD-BJP government would open subdivisional complexes.

Tarn Taran
5 booked for farmer’s murder: Milkha Singh (60), a farmer in border area Sankatra village, 45 kms from here, was murdered in his native village by his five neighbourers last night. The Khemkaran police has registered a case under Sections 302, 148, 149 and 506 of the IPC against five persons. The accused included Bawa Singh and Dogar Singh. Remaining three were yet to be identified. A dispute over watering the fields was said to be reason behind the crime. Sources said deceased Milkha Singh had gone to his fields to supply water to his fields from a common tubewell when Bawa Singh attacked Milkha Singh with a sharp-edged weapon. Other attacked him with stones. He died on the spot.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Little Flower rout St Kabir: Little Flower Convent School, Panchkula, routed St. Kabir School, Sector 26, to lift the ICSE Inter-School Basketball Championship, held at St Kabir School, here today. In the final, the winning team defeated the host by 32-18 with Anooba and Bhavya scoring the most points.

Cricket trials put off: Due to bad weather conditions, the UT Education Department has postponed the trails to select the Boys (U-16) cricket team for the 57th National School Games, today. The trials would be conducted on December 9 at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26.

HARYANA

Rewari
Father-in-law held: The Jatusana police has arrested Om Prakash of Gazi Gopalpur village for alleged involvement in the suicide of his daughter-in-law, Poonam Rani. He was on Wednesday produced in the court of PK Lal of Kosli, who remanded him in judicial custody. After Poonam committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance on the night of November 9, the police had registered a case of abetment to suicide against her father-in-law Om Prakash and mother-in-law Om Wati on a complaint filed by Kartar Singh, father of the deceased. He alleged that cruel treatment meted out by her in-laws had compelled Poonam to take the extreme step.

Woollen jerseys distributed: Functionaries of the Government Railway Police Rail Warden Association distributed woollen jerseys among 36 poor schoolchildren here on Wednesday. The beneficiaries belonged to the Shyam Baba Education Centre and Saini Primary School here.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Former pradhan arrested: The Ghumarwin police has arrested a former gram panchayat president of Chalehali, Amin Chand, for allegedly failing to prevent the misuse of MNREGA funds during his tenure as president of the panchayat. On Tuesday, the police had arrested a ward member of this panchayat, Veena Devi, on a complaint of some villagers who had alleged misappropriation of funds through fake muster rolls in some work got done during her tenure.

NURPUR
Hepatitis-B: The Health and Family Welfare Department on Wednesday organised a special awareness camp to educate villagers of three gram panchayats in Fatehpur block about the disease, hepatitis-B. The camp was held at the Barot gram panchayat in which elected representatives of the Barot, Sunet and Jakhara gram panchayats were present. According to DR Riyal, block medical officer, Indora, the camp was organised to educate the villagers about the causes and precautions for hepatitis-B.

Protest planned: Up in arms against the state government for its failure to enforce the recommendations of the 85th constitutional amendment, the HP Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Government Employees Welfare Association, Kangra, at a meeting here on Tuesday, announced that the state body of the association would hold a protest demonstration during the winter session of the Assembly to be held at Dharamsala. The meeting was presided over by state senior vice-president-cum-district president of the association, Gopal Dass Kaushal, and office-bearers of different block units of the district attended it.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
15 shops demolished: A team of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation led by Assistant Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Harak Singh Rawat, PWD officials and employees and police force, demolished 15 shops at Lensdown chowk to widen up the roundabout and road.

Protest: Members of the Congress Committee led by Lal Chand Sharma protested before the office of District Magistrate in the city on Wednesday about the pitiable state of roads and roundabouts. Sharma, member of working committee, also raised slogans against the state government . He said the roads were in a bad shape.

Kumaon Briefs
Bhawali (Nainital)
Road closed, traffic disrupted: The Bhawali-Almora highway was closed on Tuesday for more than six hours, paralysing transportation between Haldwani and Almora and Pithoragarh districts. “The motor road, which had been hit by the disastrous rains last year, has lost more than 100 meters part of the road at the same place, and engineers had made a new road by cutting a part of the hillside. But due to the raw patches of the uphill portion of the road, landslide had started, resulting in closure of the traffic,” said S.P.S. Kalakoti, an engineer of the National Highways Authority of India.

Didihat
Woman’s parents lodge FIR: The parents of a woman whose body has been found from Ram Ganga river have lodged an FIR with the police in Didihat, alleging that their daughter was killed by her in-laws for not bringing enough dowry. “The woman, who had been married five years ago, had gone missing two days ago and her body has been recovered from Ram Ganga river today. The in-laws have alleged that the husband, brother-in-law and mother-in-law of the victim first killed her and then threw her body into the river,” said Rajendra Singh Bhandari, revenue inspector of the area.

Haldwani
New Congress slogan: The women’s wing of the Congress Party in Uttarakhand has given a new slogan, “Aab ghar ghar jayenge, Uttarakhand bachayenge” to it’s workers for the forthcoming elections.The campaign on the theme of the slogan started from Haldwani on Wednesday. “This door-to-door campaign will be launched in all the districts of the state in which the Congress workers will seek explanation from the ruling party in the 419 alleged scandals it has been involved in during it’s regime,” said Diksha Verma, state secretary of Uttarakhand Mahila Congress.

Kashipur
SGPC member nominated: Harbhajan Singh Cheema, MLA from Kashipur, has been nominated as a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the supreme religious body of the Sikh community. “Cheema, who has been nominated by the supreme body under the provisions of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, will represent the community living out of Punjab.

Tanakpur (Champawat)
Panels formed for Uttarayani festival: Ten committees have been constituted by the Harela committee in Tanakpur to celebrate Uttarayani festival on January 15 and 16 next year. “The programme will include Kalash yatra, Choliya dance and a cultural programme by children from various schools of the town for which the registration process has started,” said Dr Deepak Gahtori, a member of organising committee.

(Compiled by BD Kasniyal)