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PUNJAB

bathinda
Protest leads to 3-hr traffic jam: Alleging misbehaviour by faculty members, around 100 students of Adesh College of Nursing blocked traffic on the Bathinda-Barnala road on Friday for over three hours. The blockade led to chaos and long queues of vehicles even as the protesters alleged that they were being forced to stay in hostels, for which the college management was charging a hefty amount. The agitating students are undergoing a three-year course in general nursing midwifery. The protest was suspended after the intervention of senior police functionaries.

jalandhar
Another girl abandoned: The reason might be poverty, social obligations or a plain case of escapism, but more and more helpless girls are being abandoned by their guardians. Just a day after a five-year-old was abandoned at the Civil Hospital, another mentally challenged girl was found outside the Nari Niketan late last night. The girl was spotted by members of the 1098 Childline team on duty at the Nari Niketan who provided her shelter for the night. The 11-year-old girl was not able to communicate with anyone. Team members said she wasn’t even able to do basic things like eat food without assistance.

Murder case solved, five arrested: The Jalandhar Rural police has solved the blind murder case of a 65-year-old woman with the arrest of five persons at Sangowal village in Mehatpur. The woman was hacked to death on February 4. The accused have been identified as Balwinder Singh, alias Sonu, Manpreet Singh, alias Money, Harwinder Singh, alias Manga, Davinder Kumar, alias Raju, all residents of Sangowal village and Paramjit Singh, alias Bunty, of Bangiwal village. Mehtpur SHO Sukwinder Singh said the accused were arrested following a tip-off.

ludhiana
Probe sought into PSPCL bungling: Pointing a finger at Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for its failure to send the removed or replaced energy meters to the ME lab for testing, a citizen group has demanded a vigilance probe into the bungling which could have caused a massive loss of revenue to the power utility. On the basis of the information obtained under the RTI Act, the city-based Council of RTI Activists has sent a complaint to the Chairman and Managing Director of the PSPCL against the grave lapse by the officials who failed to send more than 600 energy meters, which had ben removed from the premises of consumers of different categories, to the ME lab for testing in order to detect the tampering of meters.

City shuttler for Thomas Cup: Hard work coupled with consistent performance resulted in Pranav Chopra's selection as a member of the Indian badminton contingent to participate in the upcoming Thomas Cup slated to be held at Macau in China from February 13 to 19. According to a communique from the Badminton Association of India (BAI), Pranav Chopra, a trainee of the Ludhiana Badminton Academy has been chosen to play in the doubles category in this prestigious event. His partner will be Akshay Dewalkar from Maharashtra. It is pertinent to mention that Pranav has performed exceedingly well in the national as well as international badminton tournaments in the recent past, where he competed in the junior section.

MC team razes 12 shops: A team of the building branch of the Municipal Corporation (MC) today pulled down nearly 12 shops in Kailash Nagar locality on Gehlewal Road here. These were being constructed without an approved building plan. The ongoing work was not only in violation of the building bylaws, but the shops were coming up right under high tension (HT) lines where construction of any building is prohibited under the Electricity Act.

Muktsar
Unidentified girl's body recovered: The Lambi police on Thursday found the semi-naked body of an unidentified girl, aged around 12-14 years, from Bahavwala drain at Mithri Budhgir village on the Kheowali-Badal road. The body was first spotted by a few farmers who were working in the fields located near the drain. SHO Gurpreet Singh said preliminary investigations suggest the murder took place around three-four days ago. He added the girl appeared to be a native of Rajasthan or Haryana.

Filling station looted, one held: Four armed youths ransacked a petrol pump on the Bathinda-Malout national highway in Gidderbaha late Wednesday evening. Later, the accused also attempted to loot another petrol pump in the Lambi area, but the vigilant staff nabbed one of them. The police said the accused came in a white Alto car, which was bearing a fake registration number. They decamped with nearly Rs 18,000 and a few other articles from the filling station in Gidderbaha.

Rape accused gets seven-yr jail term: The court of Additional Sessions Judge Sarabjit Singh Dhaliwal on Friday announced seven-year imprisonment to Gurpal Singh alias Rinku after finding him guilty in a rape case. A fine of Rs 12,000 was also slapped on him. In her complaint, the victim alleged that the accused also prepared her obscene MMS and circulated it to others.

Sex racket busted, seven arrested: The CIA staff on Friday busted a sex racket and arrested four women and three men from a house on Bura Gujjar road here. Raminder Singh, CIA incharge of Muktsar, said acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted at the house of one Meena Kumari, from where three more women and three men (migrant labourers) were caught in a compromising position.

Nabha
Labourer killed in mishap in Nabha: A labourer, Lakhvir Singh (24), died on the spot as a wall of an under-renovation house fell on him at Ageti village, 10 km from here, on Friday. The victim was part of a 16-member group of labourers hired by contractor Sukhchain Singh of Sangtiwala village for renovating the house. They had been working there for the past about a fortnight. The police said action would be taken after the completion of the inquiry.

Purse snatched@@Jalandhar: A motorcyclist snatched a purse of a woman at the Model Town locality in Kapurthala on Friday evening. The victim, Santosh Kumari, a resident of Model Town alleged that when she was returning home, a bike-borne youth snatched her purse and fled. The victim is a government teacher. — OC

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Industrial units: Over 1,810 industrial units had been set up in this district in which Rs 747.18 crore had been invested and employment had been provided to 5,454 unemployed youths. This was said by Naina Devi MLA and BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma while inaugurating Rs 38.41-lakh street lights for the Government Industrial Area at Gwaalthai, 100 km from here, on Friday.

Membership: Himachal Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur has restored the party membership of senior Congress leader Pratap Kaundal of this district. This information was given by Thakur himself when he was asked by mediapersons if any steps were afoot to ensure unity of the party by taking back suspended leaders so that it could face the challenge of the ruling BJP in the next election.

CHAMBA
Charas seized: The police has seized 4 kg of charas and cash worth Rs 48,000 from three persons near the Jassourgarh zero point in an outlying Churah subdivision early Friday morning, Chamba SP Madhu Sudan Sharma said on Friday. With this, the district police has succeeded in recovering over 8 kg of charas within the past few days. The accused, identified as Santaan Singh, Mahesh Chand and Neeraj of the local area, were arrested, the SP said.

KANGRA
Free ENT camp: The Vivekananda Kendra will hold a two-day free ear, nose and throat (ENT) camp here on February 12 and 13. Spokesman for the kendra BL Sharma said the ENT OPD would be held at Gopal Bagh, Gurkhari, on the outskirts of Kangra town on February 12 at 10am and registration of patients would start at 9am. Dr Sanjay Sachdeva, Director, ENT, head and neck surgery, Max Group of Hospitals, would treat patients.

MANDI
Cop suspended: Abhishek Dular, SP, Mandi, on Friday suspended head constable at Bali Chowki, Dina Nath Shashtri, with immediate effect after the cop was caught by the Vigilance team while taking a bribe of Rs 1,000 from a complainant on Thursday. The SP said departmental inquiry would be initiated against him. The Vigilance produced Shashtri in court here on Friday, which sent him in police remand for three days.

Man booked: The police has booked Roshan Lal of Muhal Gaurd in Chamba district in a case of cheating on the complaint of Tara Devi charging him of cheating her of Rs 45,000 on the promise that he would provide the latter withwooden logs. She complained that he disappeared after taking Rs 45,000 from her in July last. The police said Lal also cheated seven other persons of the same locality in a similar way.

SUNDERNAGAR
Workshop ends: A five-day training workshop for maintenance of aids and appliances for persons with disabilities organised by the Composite Regional Centre for Persons With Disabilities (Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment), Sundernagar, concluded here on Friday. According to Manjeet Saini, in charge of the centre, 30 persons from across the state were given training for repairing different appliances being used by special persons.

Moderate tremors: Moderate tremors were felt in various parts of Mandi district around Thursday midnight. Residents of various localities felt the earthquake and some of them run out of their houses. However, majority of them failed to feel it. According to officials of a seismic observatory situated here in the BBMB Colony, the intensity of the quake was 5.0 measured on the Richter scale around 12.48am. The duration of the tremor was around 20 seconds and its epicenter was in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

DEHRADUN

DEHRADUN
2 kg of charas seized: On a tip-off, the Dalanwala police on Friday arrested Amit Negi of Uttarkashi and seized Rs 20,000 in cash and 2 kg of charas from his possession. Amit Negi was arrested while he was selling the charas to Jasodhar, a small-time contractor. According to Shweta Chaubey, Circle Officer, Amit used to buy charas from people involved in making the drug in surrounding villages of Uttarkashi and then sell it off to Jasodhar.

Suicide bid: The wife of ex-serviceman Rajender Chauhan allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in her house on Subhash Road. According to information, she took this extreme step as her husband saw her with another man with whom she had an “illicit” relationship. She is under treatment in a local hospital.

Kumaon Briefs
Six houses in Ballianala unsafe to live: The fragile Ballianala area of Nainital continues to experience frequent landslides which has caused a scare among the residents living adjacent to it. According to information, six houses in the area have developed faults and are unsafe to live. Even the walls that had been raised for protection have developed cracks. The residents of the area have demanded that they be provided a permanent place for rehabilitation. Earlier, they had been evacuated from the spot during the monsoon but had returned to reside in the danger-prone area.

CCTV cameras at bus termini on cards: The Transport Department is planning to install CCTV cameras at bus termini across the state. Initially, CCTVs will be installed in Haldwani and Haridwar. It is a safety measure being taken by the authorities to check the activities of anti-social elements who are found to be more active in public places like bus stands. Officials say the installation will start once budgetary allocation is made for the purpose and the equipment is procured.

12 hurt in mishap: Twelve passengers sustained injuries when the bus they were travelling in rammed into a tree in the Tanda forest area on Thursday. The accident took place when the driver of the bus, which was on its way to Kathgodam from Rudrapur, lost control over the vehicle while he was trying to overtake another vehicle. He was trapped between the steering and his seat and could be rescued after more than one hour. The injured were taken to hospitals in Haldwani.

Demand for more long distance trains: Residents of Haldwani have demanded more long distance trains from Haldwani to the major cities across the country. They have also demanded the betterment of the infrastructure at Haldwani railway station. A delegation of local traders submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Railways seeking that an overbridge be built at the station. They said women, children and the aged faced a lot of difficulty in moving from one platform to another in the absence of the bridge.

Jilted lover commits suicide: A man allegedly committed suicide after the girl he loved did not accept his proposal to enter into a relationship. The deceased has been identified as 20-year- old Rajesh of Kashipur. He had gone to the girl’s house in Bhojpur, Moradabad, on ‘Propose Day’ to propose to the girl. When his request was rejected, he allegedly consumed a poisonous substance at her house and died after a while. The girl’s parents reported the matter to the police, which took his body in its possession and informed his parents.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)