R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Jalandhar
Collector rates slashed: Almost a month after the revenue department had hiked collector rates, the rates of several areas in Jalandhar-2 have come down to one-fourth of the enhanced rate. While the old collector rates of certain residential areas, including Basti Sheikh, was less than Rs 1 lakh a marla prior to the revision, these were increased to Rs 3.95 lakh on April 4. The rate of the area has now been reverted to Rs 1.25 lakh a marla. Similar is the case of colonies around Basti Nau where the enhanced rate of Rs 3.95 lakh has now been brought down to Rs 1.35 lakh per marla. In certain areas, including Basti Peer Daad, the rates of residential areas have come down to just Rs 80,000 a marla from the enhanced rates of Rs 2.7 lakh. After the rollback of the enhanced rates, the office of the Tehsildar-2 witnessed heavy rush today with people getting their properties registered. The office has not uploaded the updated collector rates on the website jalandhar.nic.in.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Man convicted: A local court today convicted a man in an NDPS case. The court convicted Som Praskash, a native of Himachal Pradesh, who was caught on March 4, 2008, from the ISBT, Sector 17, with a blue coloured bag. The bag contained 1-kg charas for smuggling. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
Heroin seized: The Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Bureau, Hamiprur, seized 300 gm of heroin on Thursday and arrested Kishori Lal in this connection. The accused, who is a resident of Madhya Pradesh, after a tip-off was caught from Khatwein village under the Dhaned panchayat with the contraband. He was selling heroin to youths in packets of 1 gm.

SHIMLA
Vohra calls on  HP Governor: Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra called on Himachal Governor Urmila Singh at the Raj Bhawan here on Friday. He was accompanied by his wife Usha. It was a courtesy call. 

Raising Day: Employees of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) and their family members donated 100 units of blood at a camp organised by the public sector company to mark its 25th Raising Day. The camp was inaugurated by RN Misra, Director (Civil), SJVN. Lalita Sharma, wife of Director (Personnel) NL Sharma, was the first to donate blood. Donors would be honoured at a function to be held later in the month. 

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Follow Buddha’s teachings: CM:Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said there was need to strengthen brotherhood, benevolence, love and world peace by following the teachings of Lord Buddha. He said everyone should follow in the footsteps of great men and contribute to the development of the country and Uttarakhand.

Kumaon Briefs

Sanction of seniors must for taking leave, orders DM: Nainital District Magistrate Nidhi Mani Tripathi has ordered that the officials can avail leave only after written or oral permission from their superiors. They have been asked to leave the district headquarters only after their leave has been approved. Tripathi said it had come to her notice that the officials had been filing their applications and proceeding on leave without bothering to know whether their leave has been approved or not. She said it was not a good practice and stated that the officials must adhere to the orders passed by her.

Residents threaten stir: Residents of the remote Okhalkanda area of Nainital district have approached the district administration on the issue of pending construction of roads in their area. A large number of residents of the area submitted a memorandum of demands to the administration on Thursday pointing out that projects like Pugaon Pokhari-Devlidhar Sui, Mornaula-Majhaula and Khanasyu-Tanda were hanging fire despite their construction being approved a long time ago. They said in the absence of roads, development had come to a standstill in the area. The residents of the area have threatened to launch an agitation if immediate steps are not taken to address their concerns.

Man attempts to throw acid on wife: A man, who was drunk, allegedly tried to kill his wife by throwing acid on her in the Ramnagar area of Nainital district. The incident took place in Tedha village on Thursday when accused Lalit Halsi tried throwing acid on his wife, Champa, at her maternal home. However, her mother saved the woman. The accused had previously tried to burn his house also.

Tips on disaster management: Tips on disaster management were given to the children of the All-Saints' College in Nainital by experts from the Delhi-based National Disaster Management Institute. Brig (retired) BK Khanna of the institute provided hands-on experience in disaster management to the students of the institute with the help of a mock drill on Friday. He said in a sensitive zone like Uttarakhand, it was necessary to train children in the disaster management skills.

Body of youth found: The body of a youth was found close to the Indo-Nepal border in the Banbasa area of Udham Singh Nagar. The deceased has been identified as OP Lal Rana of Gulriya village in Kanchanpur district of Nepal. He had gone to Haridwar with his friends and had been staying around the border area for the past few days. However, his family members had lodged a complaint with the Nepalese authorities of his going missing. His body was found near a pillar on the border on Thursday.

(Compiled by Rajeev Khanna)