R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

chandigarh
Plea on transfer quashed: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a petition filed by IAS officer BK Srivastva, challenging his transfer. On April 23, the Court had ordered stay on his transfer from the post of Chairman, Punjab Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training. He retired on June 30. The officer had submitted that as per rules, the minimum tenure of posting of a director was three years. But, he was transferred just a month after taking charge as board chairman.

Kabaddi selection trials: Selection trials of Indian circle style kabaddi team for Asia Kabaddi Cup Lahore, Dubai International Kabaddi Cup and World Cup Kabaddi Punjab would be held on September 25 at PAU Ludhiana, said Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka. He is also president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India Circle Style and Punjab Kabaddi Association.

muktsar
Mega health camp: A mega health camp will be inaugurated at Badal village in the district on Sunday. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said leading doctors of the region and five from Pakistan would be present at the two-day camp. He said such camps would also be held in other areas.

Patiala
Teachers welcome HC order: The Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association has welcomed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision to dismiss the petition that challenged the increase in the retirement age of the medical faculty to 62 years. The petition was filed by the government.

Sangrur
SDO 'beaten up': Two employees of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, including a sub-divisional officer (SDO), were on Saturday allegedly attacked by a family in Kalbanjara village (five km from Lehragaga) when they had gone to the village to detect power theft cases. Lehragaga police station SHO Bakhshish Singh said the injured officials, SDO Kulwinder Singh and assistant lineman Bharpur Singh, had been admitted to a hospital.

316 disputes settled: The district police on Saturday held 'Police-Public Darbars' at eight police sub-division headquarters to settle various pending complaints on the spot. The 'darbars' were held under the supervision of deputy superintendents of police at Amargarh, Malerkotla, Dhuri, Sangrur, Sunam, Dirba, Lehra and Moonak. As many as 316 complaints were settled on the spot with mutual understanding.

25 kg opium seized: Police has arrested six persons after claiming to have seized 25 kg of opium from them at different nakas laid in the district on the intervening night of September 21/22. 

HARYANA

Kurukshetra
Man killed: Satnam Singh, a resident of Santpura, was killed on the spot when his motorcycle was hit by another speeding motorcycle near Dera Mastgarh, near Pehowa, 25 km from here, on Friday evening. 

SONEPAT
Foundation stone laid: Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Saturday laid the foundation stone of a ROB on the Rai-Nahra-Bahadurgarh road. The four-laned RoB would cost Rs 60 crore and benefit the people of Sonepat and the vehicles going from Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab towards Bahadurgarh, Gurgaon, Jhajjhar, Rohtak and Rajasthan. The road is proposed to serve as the bypass for Sonepat also.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Foundation stones laid: Virender Kanwar, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Education and PWD), addressed public meetings at several places, including Nange Thakur, Gwaalthai and Khulwin, after inaugurating and laying foundation stones of a number of schemes worth crores on Friday. He inaugurated a Rs 58.30-lakh lift drinking water supply scheme at Dabhat and a Rs 2.97-crore Jandori- Dhalet road. 

Villagers protest: Residents of eight gram panchayats of the Jukhala area held a protest demonstration here recently. They condemned police inaction in the case of murder of a youth, Kuldip Singh, of Suin village about two weeks back. They warned that they would start a ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ from October 10 if the culprits were not 
arrested by then.

CHAMBA
Tunnel sought: The Pangi Welfare Association has urged the state government to construct a tunnel beneath the Chehni Pass to link the Churah and Pangi subdivisions. Association president PL Thakur said the tunnel would help in improving the standard of living of Pangi residents. He pointed out that the valley remained snowbound from November to May. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Batote
Teacher held: Fugitive teacher Joginder Singh was nabbed by the Ramban police from Chakwa in Batote on Saturday for allegedly kidnapping a 13-year-old girl student of his school on September 7. Joginder has been suspended by Batote Zonal Education Officer Vijay Gupta.

Rajouri
16 injured in clash: Over 16 persons of two communities were injured in a clash triggered by claims to right over vegetation (grass) on government land. The clash occurred in the Thandi Kasi area of Rajouri district on Friday evening and the injured were hospitalised.

Srinagar
State help for infant: State Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma on Saturday said the government will bear all the expenses for the corrective surgery of an abandoned infant with a cleft lip. The baby, less than a month old, was found abandoned outside GB Path Children's Hospital at Sonawar on Wednesday.

Production of apples: Inclement weather here has led to drop in apple production this year, diminishing chances of a bumper crop. Snowfall and low temperatures during the blossoming season have stemmed the growth of the buds, and any possibility of a revival has been punctured by the hailstorm that hit the town earlier this month.

Raj Bhavan rebuttal: The Raj Bhavan spokesman on Saturday refuted reports regarding darbar move that had appeared in a section of the press. He refuted reports claiming that Governor NN Vohra had suggested the state government “to consider doing away with the 140-year-old practice of shifting the capital between Jammu and Srinagar every six months and proposing to alternate the two cities as the capital after every year”.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Mahanirvan Diwas: The 326th Mahanirvan Divas of Guru Ram Rai was observed at Guru Ram Rai Darbar here on Saturday. A large number of devotees from Punjab participated in a function held on the occasion. Mahant Devender Dass, present Mahant of Guru Ram Rai Darbar, along with the devotees, also visited the 'samadhi' of Guru Ram Rai. Langar was also organised.

'Cong's victory certain': General Secretary of the state unit of the Congress Vijay Saraswat on Saturday said the victory of the Congress in the Tehri bypoll was certain. He said a large number of people attended the party rally at Parade Ground on Friday. He said party candidate for the bypoll Saket Bahuguna belonged to the family of freedom fighters and hailed from a political family that had served Uttarakhand for long. He said he was hopeful of a landslide victory for Saket.

Nomination papers filed: President of the Gorkha Democratic Front Surya Vikram Shahi on Saturday filed his nomination papers for the Tehri bypoll. Later, while talking to mediapersons, Shahi said both the BJP and the Congress wanted to divide people in the name of hills and plains. He said the Gorkha Democratic Front was committed to the development of the state.

Door-to door canvassing: Gauri Bahuguna, wife of Saket Bahuguna, Congress candidate for the Tehri bypoll, along with party MLA from Rajpur Rajkumar, on Saturday went for door-to-door canvassing in the Old Dalanwala, Karanpur and Rispana areas of Dehradun. Gauri Bahuguna assured the people of redressal of their problems related to civic amenities. MLA Rajkumar urged the people to vote for the Congress candidate.

Punjabi kalyan morcha: Patron of the Punjabi Evam Alpsankyak Kalyan Morcha Shilpi Arora on Saturday said the morcha was committed to the welfare of Punjabi and other minority communities in the state. In a statement, Shilpi Arora said the morcha would soon organise camps to redress the problems being faced by these communities.

Carom competition begins: As part of the 70th foundation day of the Indian Institute of Petroleum, the IIP Staff’s two-day carom competition started at the community centre of the institute on Saturday. Inaugurating the competition, Director, IIP, MO Garg said: “Participation in games brings in a feeling of sportsmanship spirit among employees.”

Rescue works stopped: Rescue works have stopped in the cloudburst-hit Ukhimath. According to the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre authorities, the clearing of the debris in Ukhimath has stopped as rescue works could not be carried out in an infinite manner. The authorities said there was no possibility of the existence of any life underneath the debris. The authorities said other works related to the restoration of power and potable water supply now needed to be carried out.

NRI woman killed: An NRI woman pilgrim from England was killed while four others were injured when the bus they were travelling in was hit by heavy boulders on the Joshimath-Badrinath highway, near Lambagar, in Chamoli district today. A group of NRIs from England was on its way to Badrinath Dham when the accident took place. The injured have been admitted to Joshimath hospital.

Review of programmes: Piyush Singh, Uttarakhand Mission Director for the National Rural Health Mission, is reviewing the progress of programmes in the state. He has started the review work from the Garhwal region, which would continue for some weeks. Later, the Kumaon region would be covered. 

College staff threaten stir: Non-teaching staff of Gurukul College have threatened to go on a strike from October 3 if their pending salaries of the past three years were not released. Prahalad Singh, president of the Uttarakhand Employees’ Council, said injustice to the non-teaching staff would not be tolerated.

Gupta elected fellow of Italy academy: Prof Anil K Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, has been elected the Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy. His election took place in the 23rd general meeting of the TWAS held in China on September 18.