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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Fatehgarh sahib seat
Candidates make most of last day
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, January 28
On the last day of campaigning, the candidates made all-out efforts to woo the voters by organising rallies, roadshows, corner meetings and striking a personal chord with them. Owing to strict vigil by the election observers, big processions were missing as usual.

The candidates of the Congress, the PPP and the SAD have been levelling allegations of distribution of intoxicants and money to woo the voters against each other.

Kuljeet Singh Nagra of the Congress organised an impressive roadshow in Sirhind City, main bazar, Hamayunpur and Brahman Majra. Hundreds of Congress activist carrying party flags went from shop to shop seeking votes for the Congress. Randeep Singh Surjewala organised three big election rallies in Baras, Ferozepur and Sirhind in support of the Congress candidate. Similarly, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra organised an election rally at Sirhind, which was largely attended. Later, accompanied by his supporters and BJP workers, he walked through the main bazar in Sirhind to seek votes. Didar Singh Bhatti of the PPP preferred to strike a personal chord with the voters by visiting their houses and shops.

As the Fatehgarh Sahib Assembly constituency is gong to witness a fierce contest among the Congress, the SAD, the PPP and the SAD (A), the candidates of all these parties are not taking any chance. The heavy rush at the PPP rally and that of Rahul Gandhi yesterday has upset the calculations of political observers. The urban voter is silent and not revealing his mind whereas the rural voters are divided into four groups and are openly supporting their respective candidates.

dera bassi seat
Candidates hold rallies
Tribune Reporters

Dera Bassi, January 28
Campaigning in the Dera Bassi seat today ended with candidates of different parties and independents holding rallies and meetings. They raised the issues of development and basic problems facing the people of the area.

Independent candidate and a rebel of the SAD, Manpreet Kaur Dolly, held a rally at Dera Bassi yesterday. She appealed to the people to vote to fulfil the dreams of his father, late Capt Kanwaljit Singh. She alleged that the SAD had ignored the her father’s services to the party and the area by denying the party ticket to the family.

Candidate of the SAD Narinder Kumar Sharma ended his campaign by holding election meetings in villages and towns. He raised the issue of development carried out during the SAD-BJP regime and future development of the area. His rallies were addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala.

The Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) and the Sanjha Morcha candidate Bhagwant Singh Baltana visited villages and towns. He blamed both the Congress and the SAD-BJP governments for corruption and assured the voters that corruption would be removed from all government offices and basic problems of unemployment and poverty would be solved after the formation of the Sanjha Morcha government in the state.

Candidate of the BSP Satish Sharma raised the issue of corruption in government offices and pitiable living conditions of labourers and farmers. He said the BSP was committed to resolving all these problems.

Zirakpur: Congress rebel and independent candidate from Dera Bassi Deepinder Singh Dhillon organised a rally to conclude his campaign on Saturday. Independent MPs, former ministers and leaders from Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, including Gujjar community leaders, had come all the way to support Dhillon.

Addressing the rally, Dhillon said vote for the best candidate who would stand by them in the need of the hour. He said he was fighting a war for his rights and that of the people as the Congress had denied him the ticket despite his being the rightful claimant to the Dera Bassi seat. He asked the people of the constituency to make sure that no outsider was elected from this seat.

An emotional Dhillon, while breaking down at several occasions, said he and his family would remain indebted for lifetime for the support extended to them by the voters.

Hooda blames SAD-BJP govt for financial crunch
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, January 28
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said the SAD-BJP government has caused irreparable loss to the economy of Punjab, which was the number one state of India at any time. Hooda was addressing an election rally at Lalru in favour of Congress candidate Jasjit Singh Randhawa last evening. He said development of the state and the country was possible only in the Congress regime which had been proved by the Haryana government and the UPA at the Centre.

The Haryana Chief Minister blamed the SAD-BJP government of Punjab for the financial crunch in the state. The Congress is a party which has leaders like Sonia Gandhi who had not accepted the post of Prime Minister in the interest of the party and country and Dr Manmohan Singh was made the Prime Minister in order to honour the Sikh community, he added. Punjab is the big brother of Haryana and the state would extend help to Punjab in its survival from weakening economy, Hooda added. He termed the BJP as “bahut jhooti party” and the SAD as “son and dad party”.

Cabinet Minister of Haryana Randeep Surjewala said the SAD-BJP government of Punjab had adopted policies in favour of the rich and smugglers. Among others who addressed the rally included former Union minister Venod Sharma, local Congress leader Rakesh Sharma, RR Bhardwaj, Amritpal Singh, Kuljit Singh Randhawa, Jaspal Singh, block Congress president Harbhajan Singh, Rajni Mehta, Anoop Sharma and Shyam Singh Rana.

Election brief
Ban orders

Fatehgarh Sahib: Yashveer Mahajan, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate, on Saturday issued orders by which all the wine shops in the district would remain close from 5 pm on January 28 to 7 pm on January 30. He has also banned the sale, storage and use of wine at hotels, restaurants, ahatas, clubs and other sources of entertainment. — OC

Students educate a resident at Tangori village on elections.

Holiday on Jan 30

Fatehgarh Sahib: In an order, Yashveer Mahajan, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate, has declared holiday on January 30, the polling day, so that every one may caste his vote. By yet another order, he has stated on January 30 the voting would take place from 8am to 5pm but at certain polling booths where the number of voters is more, all the voters who enter the polling station by 5pm would be allowed to caste vote irrespective of time. — OC

Awareness drive

BANUR: The NSS unit of the Shaheed Udham Singh College of Research and Technology here organised an awareness campaign at Tangori village, which they have adopted under the National Service Scheme. The volunteers took out a procession in the village and motivated the residents to fight against the unethical practices involved in voting. The NSS volunteers visited around 150 houses of the village. — OC

2 killed in accident
Our Correspondent

Ambala, January 28
Two persons were killed in a road accident near Mullana this morning. The deceased were identified as Surender (26) and Labh Singh (24). Both were the residents of Mullana.

They were were returning to their village on a motorcycle when a vehicle hit their motorcycle. According to the police, both died on the spot. The bodies were sent to medical college, Mullana, for postmortem. A case has been registered.

CRIME

3 burglaries in 48 hrs
Domestic help decamps with jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 28
Three burglaries and two incidents of snatching have been reported across the city in the past 48 hours. While thieves managed to break into a house in Sector 30, Sector 47 and Sector 35, unidentified bikers robbed a Sector 45 resident of his mobile phone. Also miscreants snatched a purse near Sector 24.

Anuj Gupta of Sector 30 reported to the police that Rahul (domestic help) ran away after stealing Rs 1 lakh, a set of diamond earrings, a set of diamond bangles, three pairs gold earrings, four gold coins, one gold chain, one gold bangle, three sets of diamond rings, one gold bracelet and some silver items. The complainant said the total cost of the stolen jewellery was Rs 7 lakh and it was stolen from his residence on the night of January 27.

Mukesh Kumar Gupta, a resident of Sector 47, reported to the police that the thieves managed to break into his house and decamped with Rs 10,000, 25 silver coins, one gold necklace and one ring. A case has been registered at the police station of Sector 31.

In another incident, Kusum, a resident of Sector 35, complained to the police that thieves stole four gold bangles, one pair of gold tops, one pair of gold earrings, two gold finger rings and papers of fixed deposits of PNB from her residence. A case has been registered at the police station, Sector 36.

Pardeep Kumar, a resident of Sector 45, alleged that two persons, who were riding a motorcycle (No. CH-01AG-1204) sped away after robbing him of his mobile phone from near the light point of Sector 45-46. A case has been registered.

In another incident of snatching, Poonam, a resident of Sector 15, alleged that miscreants snatched her purse containing a mobile phone and some documents from near the Sector 24/25-37/38 chowk. A case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Man caught stealing phone on CCTV

A thief was caught stealing a mobile phone on CCTV at the Sri Vinayk Computer shop in Sector 32 today. The owner of the shop, after noticing a mobile missing saw the CCTV footage and identified the suspect.

The owner of the shop, Bhola, said he immediately launched a hunt and nabbd the suspect after sometime. Although the mobile could not be recovered from his possession, a complaint regarding the theft was lodged with the Sector 34 police station.

Thief caught red-handed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 28
Acting swiftly the PCR staff of the Chandigarh police arrested a thief red-handed from Sector 37. The control room, on receiving the information of some person breaking into a house, sent PCR vehicles to the spot and managed to arrest the thief.

The PCR staff got the information that some persons entered into House No.1061 in Sector-37 with the intention of theft. Police officials stated that on getting the information three PCR vehicles were sent to the spot to nab the culprits. On reaching the spot, PCR vehicle in charge, Head Constable Amrik Singh, along with his staff, acted quickly and nabbed one of the culprits namely Sanjeev Kumar of Sector 23 who was hiding himself in box.

The police stated that stolen articles, including an LPG cylinder, a violin costing around Rs 2 lakh, wood cutter machine, music player, TV set and other items kept in a bag were recovered from the suspect. A case has been registered.

SPORTS