R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Jalandhar
Woman crushed to death: A woman was crushed to death by a train engine near Chak Pind village today. The deceased was identified as Gurbaksh Kaur (45), wife of Harbhajan Singh. The Railway Police has sent the body for postmortem examination to the Civil Hospital.

Tarn Taran
Petrol pump looted: Four youths looted Rs 59,150 from a petrol pump situated at Thathian Mahantan here on Wednesday. The miscreants came to the pump on a Safari car late last evening. The youths entered a room at the petrol station and decmaped with cash kept in the box.

CHANDIGARH

Trials for Dodgeball on Dec 13: The UT education department will hold trials to select Dodgeball teams of both, boys and girls (U-19) at Government Model Senior Secondary School Sector 20, on December 12. The selected players will participate in the upcoming 57th National School Games to be held in city from January 6 to 11. A camp will be organised to select the final team at Government High School, Sector 7, from December 13.

HARYANA

Chandigarh
Issue released: Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda released a special issue of ‘Harigandha’, a publication of the Haryana Sahitya Academy, hereon Thursday. This issue of ‘Harigandha’ is on ghazals. Dr KK Khandelwal, additional principal secretary to the Chief Minister, said efforts were being made to bring the level of publications of the academies at par with contemporary literature.

Panipat
Youth murdered: The railway police on Thursday found the body of a 21-year-old youth from a ditch near the local railway station. The youth had been murdered under mysterious circumstances. The police said the youth had been identified as Anil, a resident of Kohand village in Karnal district, who worked as a compounder in a private hospital here. The victim’s father, Balbir Singh, had reportedly filed a complaint with the Gharaunda police that his son had been missing since Sunday evening. A case has been registered.

Rewari
Health camp: As many as 115 patients were examined for heart ailments as well as bone injuries free of cost by a cardiologist and an orthopaedist of a hospital in Gurgaon at a health check-up camp held at Kosli on Thursday. The village sarpanch, Urmila Yadav, thanked the hospital authorities for organising such a medical camp for the welfare of the villagers.

Sirsa
Dera chief appears before CBI: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Wednesday appeared before the CBI special court through videoconferencing from the district courts here in a criminal case. The dera chief is facing trial in the Ram Chander Chhatarpati murder case, Ranjit Singh murder case and a case of exploitation of a former dera sadhvi. The CBI special court on Thursday heard arguments on the bail plea of Kishan Lal, a co-accused in the Ranjit Singh murder case. The case was later adjourned to December 10.

2 killed in mishap: Two youths were killed on the spot when the motorcycle they were riding collided with a truck near a police post on the outskirts of the town on Thursday. The victims, Pawan Bajaj, a resident of Kirti Nagar, and Roop Ram from Saharani village, were coming to Sirsa from Ramnagaria village on a motorcycle, when the accident occurred. The truck driver escaped, leaving behind his vehicle. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Memo submitted: A deputation of Bilaspur Nagar Parishad members, led by parishad president and BJP leader Rajni Sharma and vice-president and Congress leader Kamlender Kashyap, met Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan and presented him a memorandum regarding a large number of cases of thefts in the town during past few months and the failure of police to catch the culprits in any of the case till now.

NURPUR
Ambulance service:The 108 ambulance service, named the Atal Swasthya Sewa, launched by the state government last year has benefited around 17,000 patients in Kangra and over 88,000 across the state. Presiding over the first anniversary of this service on the premises of the local Civil Hospital on Thursday, local MLA Rakesh Pathania claimed that this service had proved to be a boon for the masses residing in remote and far-off rural areas.

SUNDERNAGAR
Hall inaugurated: Dile Ram, Chairman, Finance Commission, on Thursday inaugurated a hall at Senior Secondary School, Mahadev, near here, which was constructed at a cost of Rs 3.20 lakh. He also sanctioned an amount of Rs 3 lakh for the completion of the construction of the examination hall and further sanctioned Rs 1 lakh for the construction of a stage on the school premises. While addressing a gathering on the prize distribution function of the school, he said soon the school would get a building for a science laboratory. Later, he distributed prizes among students. Students presented a cultural programme.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Babu Sant Singh’s death mourned:Various social, religious and political organisations have condoled the death of Babu Sant Singh Bijral, chief patron of the Akali Dal (Badal), who passed away here on Tuesday after a brief illness. Babu Sant Singh was cremated with full religious honours on Tuesday at the Jogi Gate cremation ground. Apart from political leaders, social workers, bureaucrats, businessmen, religious personalities and mediapersons attended the cremation of Sant Singh Bijral. Narinder Singh, former Director, Information, described Babu Sant Singh as a noble and pious soul who always worked for the welfare of the Sikh community.

Srinagar
Man hurt in grenade attack:One person was injured in a grenade attack by militants on the security forces on the national highway at Bijbehara in Anantnag district, the police said today. Militants hurled a hand grenade at a vehicle of the security forces, near Gooriwan in Bijbehara, last evening but it missed the target and exploded on the roadside, injuring Abdul Gani Bhat, a local. The injured was shifted to the SMHS Hospital. The police has registered a case in this regard.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Removal of gate demanded: Workers of the BJP have demanded removal of gate put up by Tibetan community members at the Tibetan Colony locality at Clement Town here. Led by BJP Deendayal Upadhayay Mandal general secretary Mahesh Pandey, the BJP workers held a protest at the Dehradun District Magistrate’s office. They alleged that Tibetan settlers were building a gate, thereby restricting the movement of the public. They held that the government had been spending funds on the development of the locality and thus, Tibetan Community members have no right to restrict the movement in a public area.

Kumaon Briefs
Semester system at graduate level: The semester system of examination introduced at the postgraduate-level would now be introduced at the graduate-level by Kumaon University from the next session, said Prof VPS Arora, vice-chancellor of the university, at a meeting of principals of the affiliated colleges of the university here on Thursday. “Under the new system, 180 days of attendance and completion of assignment will be compulsory for every student. The students will be allotted ten digit roll numbers from their respective colleges,” said Arora, adding that the examination for the first semester will be held in the month of December and of second semester will be in June.

40 roads to be constructed:A total of 40 new motor roads will be constructed in the main towns of the Terai area in this financial year. For this, the government has approved Rs 40 crore. “Out of these 40 roads, 13 roads will be constructed in Bajpur, 14 in Jaspur, 5 in Kichcha and 8 in the Khatima area,” said HK Upreti, superintendent engineer of the PWD.

Farmers hold demonstration: Demanding immediate orders by the district administration for lifting of their sugarcane crop by transporters, farmers of the Rudrapur area today demonstrated before the office of the District Magistrate. The farmers alleged that on the pretext of overloading, the transporters are not lifting their sugarcane crop for the Sitarganj and Gadarpur sugar mills, which is resulting in its destruction in the fields. “We are also demanding payments of last years’ sugarcane purchases by these mills, so that the farmers can meet their daily requirements,” said Jarnail Singh, a sugarcane farmer from Rudrapur.

Symposium on development of state: A two-day symposium on development of Uttarakhand named, ’Samvad -2011’ will begin from December 10 at Almora. The symposium, being organised in the memory of Late Governor BD Pandey by Uttarakhand Sewa Nidhi, a NGO, will be addressed by a score of experts on the subject, including the vice chancellors of Pant Nagar University and Doon University. “The workshop will be inaugurated by Prof VK Pathak, vice chancellor of Uttarakhand Open University. The main discussion of the workshop will be focused on migration from the hills,” said PC Joshi, a senior journalist of the town.

Secondary teachers to go on strike: Secondary teachers of the state will go on a strike from December 12 if the government fails to issue a notification for formation of a separate directorate for secondary and primary education. “ The government had issued a government order on the issue, but the teachers of the cadre are not getting the benefits of encashment against earned leaves, and promotion from junior high school to the LT grade,” said Govind Vohra, district president of the union.

(Compiled by BD Kasniyal)