R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandgiarh
Additional charge of Home Secretary: Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Managing Director Kirandeep Singh Bhullar has been given the additional charge of Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice. An official release said Sibin C, Deputy Commissioner of Pathankot, had been given the additional charge of Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Pathankot. Vinay Bublani, Commissioner Corporation, Jalandhar, has been given the additional charge of CEO, Jung-E-Azadi Memorial Foundation, Jalandhar, while Hargunjit Kaur, Joint Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, had been given the additional responsibility of Joint Director, Colonisation.

Jalandhar
Review sedition law: Dal Khalsa: Sharing the concerns raised by several human rights activists and eminent personalities against the booking of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi under sedition charges by the Maharashtra Police, the Dal Khalsa has said that the sedition law should be reviewed. Dal Khalsa chief HS Dhami and secretary for human rights Pritpal Singh termed the arrest of Trivedi as "wrong" and demanded dropping of sedition charges against him. They said numerous Sikh leaders had also been framed under the sedition law since the 1980s. they said "there was a need to review the sedition law".

Moga
AISSF hits out at Jagdish Tytler: Citing the filing of charges of attempt to murder, rioting, outraging the modesty of a woman cop and criminal conspiracy against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, the All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has said that they would approach the CBI court in Delhi with a plea to consider Tytler's recent actions of inciting the mob as evidence against his petition of innocence in the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. AISSF chief Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad said, "If Tytler can incite violence against the police, what makes the CBI court think that he did not incite violence against unarmed civilians during the riots."

Sangrur
Money withdrawn fraudulently: The police has registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC against an unknown person for allegedly withdrawing Rs 10.5 lakh from the bank account of a Sunam resident, Jeet Singh. The amount was withdrawn from the main branch of State Bank of Patiala, Sunam, by the accused by allegedly forging Jeet Singh's signature. Investigating officer Gurtej Singh said the amount was withdrawn on August 2. The bank authorities initially inquired the matter at their own level, but later informed the police when they could not solve the mystery.

YC activists hold protest: In protest against the arrest of Youth Congress chief of the Dirba assembly constituency Jagdev Singh Gaga, a large number of Congress activists staged a dharna in front of the Dharamgarh police station on Tuesday. They demanded that a “false” case registered against him and two others be cancelled. Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla participated in the dharna. He claimed that the police was harassing Congress workers.

HARYANA

Hisar
16 child labourers: A team of the Labour Department and the Crime Bureau raided a factory at Kajla village on Tuesday and found 16 child labourers working there. The factory owners have been booked under the Child Labour Act and other provisions of the IPC. Officials said all children had been sent to the Krishna Parnami Bal Sewa Ashram.

Contractor fined: Amit Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, has imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the contractor managing the parking site at the mini-secretariat for overcharging vehicle owners. There had been complaints against the contractor about charging double the parking fee prescribed in the contract. There were also allegations of misbehaviour with vehicle owners if they objected to pay the enhanced fee.

Water supply cut: INLD Secretary-General Ajay Singh Chautala said the Hooda government had reduced the supply of water to the Balsamand canal affecting farmers in 80 villages of Hisar district. Under the new dispensation, the canal would flow only for a week in a month. This was bound to affect crops in the area adversely. He said this had been done to benefit farmers of other areas politically important to the CM.

Kurukshetra
One booked: The police has registered a case against Vinod Kumar of Ambala for allegedly carving a residential colony and commercial plots near Buda village in the district without prior permission of Country and Town Planner Vimal Singh.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dalhousie
6 held with 32.5 kg of nag chhatri: The police nabbed a gang of six persons and seized 32.5 kg of nag chhatri (medicinal herb) from them near Talai in Kihar sector adjacent to J&K on Sunday. This was stated by Superintendent of Police (SP), Chamba, Kuldeep Sharma here yesterday.

Kangra
Man dies: Vikramjeet of Johora Shahpur village died at the DRPGMC, Tanda, today after consuming some poisonous substance. The body was sent for the postmortem examination.

DEHRADUN

UPP in fray: The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) today announced Kuldeep Madhwal as its candidate for the Tehri byelection. At a meeting of the party held at Ramnagar today, party President PC Tiwari said he was hopeful that the UPP would perform well in the Tehri byelection.