R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Opium seized: The Khuyiansarwar police has seized two kg of opium from one Narinder Singh of Luhar Basti, Pali Marwar (Rajasthan) outside Maujgarh village on the Sriganganagar-Abohar road.

Amritsar
Traders alarmed: Alarmed at the recent recovery of heroin in a goods train from Pakistan, traders met here and decided to take up the matter with top Customs officials, said vice-president of the Amritsar Exporters Chambers of Commerce Rajdeep Uppal.

Dera Bassi
Youth found dead: A youth of Handesra village was found dead yesterday. The body was recovered from a well near the village. The deceased was identified as Sachin Kumar (22), son of Jasmer. The youth was said to be a drug addict who was in tension due to family problems. SHO Handesra said Sachin committed suicide one or two days back. The body was handed over to the relatives after conducting postmortem. The police has taken action under Section 174 of the IPC.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
12 CTU drivers awarded: Twelve drivers with the CTU were awarded here today for giving best mileage. They were Bahader Singh, Rajbir Singh, Nirvar Singh, Hari Singh, Lakhbir Singh, Surinder Singh, Harchand Singh, Balwinder Singh, Gurjeet Singh, Sunder Singh, Harcharan Singh and Gurbachan Singh.

HARYANA

Recruitment rally: Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar flagged off the physical fitness test being conducted at the Army recruitment rally in Dronacharya Stadium here on Wednesday. The Director, Army Recruitment Ambala, Col SK Prasad, welcomed the Deputy Commissioner and showed the different stages for conducting free, fair and transparent recruiting procedures. Colonel Prasad told the Deputy Commissioner that about 30,000 youths had participated in the recruitment rally in the past seven days.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Srinagar
Free ration for drought-hit families: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday approved three-month free of cost ration for drought-hit families of Kishtwar and Doda districts in the Jammu region. He approved Rs 13.63 crore for the purpose, an official said here. The decision of the Chief Minister would enable 49,273 families of Doda district and 76,551 families of Kishtwar district to get free ration. The ration would be provided by the Consumers Affairs and Public Distribution Department at its outlets in the two districts, the official said.

Student shot dead: A student was shot dead at Awantipora in Pulwama district on Tuesday night. “Unidentified gunmen fired upon Liyaqat Sultan Lone (20), a 2nd year student, at Nanwal Mohalla in Awantipora. He died instantaneously,” a police spokesman said.