R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Ludhiana
Nominated: Prof Prayag Dutt Juyal, registrar of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) has been nominated to the Academic Council of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Krishi Viswavidyala, Palampur, (HP), for a period of two years. The academic council is the highest body which makes regulations on academic programmes of the university.

Patiala
Teachers’ association election result: Associate Professor in mathematics, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Dr Hardeep Singh has been elected as the president of the Punjab Government College Teachers’ Association (PGCTA). Dr Hardeep defeated his nearest rival — Associate Professor in physics, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Dr Manjit Singh, by 51 votes.

Dr Hardeep is teachers’ assn chief:Associate Professor in mathematics, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Dr Hardeep Singh has been elected as the president of the Punjab Government College Teachers’ Association (PGCTA). Dr Hardeep defeated his nearest rival — Associate Professor in physics, Government Mohindra College, Patiala, Dr Manjit Singh, by 51 votes.

PHILLAUR
Cash, valuables stolen: Thieves struck at five houses in Virk village, Phillaur sub-division, on Sunday night. Goraya SHO Kulwant Singh Randhawa said the thieves decamped with gold jewellery, cash and valuables worth lakhs of rupees. Cases were registered in this connection. Meanwhile, two drugs peddlers, including Shiv Kumar and Suraj, were held with 15-gm heroin and huge quantity of puppy husk.

Phagwara
Narrow escape for school kids: About 30 schoolchildren had a narrow escape when a school bus carrying them overturned near Miherru village today. The SHO, Chiherru, Ramandeep Singh, said the bus of a private school of Rawalpindi was on its way to drop children at their villages today. The bus driver lost control over the vehicle on a turn and the bus overturned. Children sustained minor bruises.

Mobile phones snatched: Robbers struck at a mobile shop, owned by Aman Sondhi, in Subhash Nagar last evening and took away three mobile phones. The robbers asked Aman Sondhi to show them some new mobile phones. When he showed them the mobile phones, they snatched three from him and sped away. The police has registered a case.

Cyclist killed: Jaswinder Singh of Pandhwa village was killed when a school bus hit his cycle on the national highway near Chachoki village here today. The bus driver, identified as Madan Singh, fled leaving the bus behind. The police has impounded the bus and registered a case against the bus driver. The body of the deceased has been sent for postmortem to the Civil Hospital. 

Tarn Taran
Health services hit: Pharmacists working in government health centres organised a dharna in front of the Civil Surgeon (CS) office. They were on a mass casual leave since yesterday. Pharmacists under the Sangarash Committee, pharmacists also carried out a march in the town and presented a memorandum to Harmit Singh Sandhu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Agriculture). Parshotam Sharma, state committee member of the Committee said the pharmacists had been demanding the removal of discrepancies in their pay scales. Pharmacists in the district had been on mass casual leave. The laboratory technicians too organised a dharna in front of CS office.The services at the blood banks, laboratories in all civil hospitals and other health centres remained paralysed in the district. 

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Clarification:The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on HDFC Bank and not ICICI Bank for illegally raising foreclosure charges/ prepayment charges of Rs 5,00,825 from a Sector-11 resident, in the news item “ICICI fined Rs 50,000” published on December 13 in these columns. The error is regretted.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
New assn chief: Pravin Pathania of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Hamirpur, was unanimously elected president of the HP State Directorate of Physical Education Association at Kandraur, near here, on Monday. Some 300 delegates drawn from all parts of state attended the election meeting. The meeting authorised the president to form his state executive committee after taking all leaders into confidence.

SHIMLA
NABARD loan: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a loan of Rs 171.22 crore to the state government for the creation of rural infrastructure in the state. Chief General Manager Naresh Gupta said the funds had been sanctioned for the construction of 17 rural drinking water supply projects, 17 minor irrigation projects, 48 roads and four bridges. This was the third sanction during 2011-12 under tranche-XVII of the Rural Infrastructure Deelopmnet Fund and the cumulative sanctions now aggregated Rs 334.57 crore. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Governor visits Naval War College: Governor NN Vohra visited the Naval War College at INS Mandovi, Verem, Goa, on Tuesday. The Governor addressed the participants of the Naval Higher Command Course, which is meant for training middle-level officers of the Indian Navy and other armed forces, in the higher direction of war, strategy and operations. This was followed by a question-answer session with the participants on various aspects of their training. Twenty-three officers from the Navy, three from the Army and two from the Indian Air Force are participating in the ongoing 24th Naval Higher Command Course.

Army donates  furniture: In an initiative to improve the infrastructure of schools in the remote areas of Rajouri district, Tithwal Brigade donated benches, blackboards, almirahs, tables and chairs to nine schools at Bagla, Nadiala, Richwa, Kalakot, Thandi Kasi, Kotli, Duranigalla, Andrut and Naogiran. The functions to donate furniture and other things were conducted at Nadiala, Duranigalla and Andrut over four days. 

Srinagar
195 airlifted in Kargil Courier: At least 195 passengers have been airlifted so far in the Kargil courier since the air service connecting the Ladakh region with the two capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar began on November 29. An official spokesman said on Tuesday 30 passengers had been airlifted from Kargil to Srinagar, 28 from Srinagar to Kargil, 32 from Kargil to Jammu and 40 had been airlifted from Jammu to Kargil in two AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The courier service is being provided during the winter when the Srinagar-Leh highway remains blocked due to the accumulation of snow on Zojila Pass.

Three militants arrested: Three militants were apprehended at two places in Baramulla district, the police said on Tuesday. A joint team of the Baramulla police and 52 Rashtriya Rifles apprehended two militants during a vehicle checking near Muqam Crossing. The militants have been identified as Mohammad Rafiq Lone of the Hizbul Mujahideen and Ejaz Ahmad Shah of the Al Baraq. Two pistols, two magazines and six pistol rounds were seized from their possession. In another incident, the Pattan police and 29 Rashtriya Rifles arrested Hizbul Mujahideen militant Mohammad Yousuf Bhat along with his wife, Shahnaz Bibi, near Rangee Mode.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Two tiger cubs found dead: Two tiger cubs were found dead in Terai East Forest Division of Uttarakhand on Tuesday. The forest guards on a patrol found a dead male and a female tiger club in the Kilpura range of the division, which falls in close proximity of tiger-famous Jim Corbett National Park.

Bonded labour: District Magistrate Dilip Jawalkar has directed the SDMs to probe the cases of bonded labour in Chakrata, Kalsi and Tyuni tehsils of Dehradun district. He has also asked the SDMs to provide details of the action taken in all the previous registered FIRs linked to bonded-labour cases.

Kumaon Briefs

Rudrapur hospitals lack firefighting facilities: The police and fire brigade authorities in Rudrapur were in for a shock when they found that most of the hospitals in the town lacked firefighting facilities. During a surprise check carried out by the authorities at private hospitals in the wake of the Kolkata fire incident, it was found that the hospitals in Rudrapur were short of firefighting equipment. It was also found that some of these hospitals are functioning right under high-tension lines. The hospital managements have been asked to put their house in order at the earliest failing which stringent action would be taken against them.

Election officer holds meeting: District election officer, Almora, DS Garbyal has ordered the officials deputed for the task of holding the coming Assembly elections to make preparations for the exercise well on time. At a meeting held in Almora, Garbyal laid emphasis on the testing of vehicles and getting the faulty ones repaired. The regional transport officer has been asked to hold special camps in every Assembly segment to check the fitness of the vehicles. The officials of the local municipal bodies have been asked to identify the spots where the posters and hoardings have been put up so that the same can be removed immediately after the model code of conduct comes into effect.

22 vehicles impounded: Carrying on with the drive to check illegal quarrying on the Gaula river bed, the authorities have impounded 22 vehicles transporting illegally mined material. The action was taken against the vehicles at the Rajpura and Indira Nagar gates. Besides this, 25 vehicles have been debarred from transporting mined material as they were found to have been parked in prohibited zones. The owners of these vehicles would have to pay the fines imposed on them. The action against the violators of norms pertaining to quarrying was taken by officials of the Forest Department.

Jackets being smuggled into India seized: A large number of jackets and a huge amount of fertilisers being smuggled across the Indo-Nepal border have been seized by personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in separate instances in the Khatima area of Udham Singh Nagar district. In the first instance, SSB personnel seized 200 jackets being smuggled into India on five bicycles. When they swooped on the smugglers, the latter managed to flee leaving the jackets behind. These jackets are said to be worth Rs 3 lakh. In the second instance, SSB personnel seized 11 bags of urea and six bags of cement that were being smuggle from India into Nepal. The smugglers managed to flee in this case too leaving the bags behind.

CM’s intervention sought: Residents of Koota, Jamtadi and Bazar gram sabhas of the Didihat area in Pithoragarh district have demanded that the anomaly pertaining to their attachment to the Kanalichina block be removed at the earliest. In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister BC Khanduri, they have stated that in a recent delimitation, their gram sabhas had been attached to the Kanalichina block while their tehsil remains Didihat. This is causing immense hardships and problems to them when it comes to getting administrative works done. The people have asked the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and get the anomaly removed.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)