R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Notorious drug peddler held: A notorious drug peddler, Amandeep Singh alias Amna, was arrested from Kohala area on Mallanwala road here after 7 kg of opium was recovered from his possession. Senior Superintendent of Police Varinder Pal Singh said the arrest was made following a tip-off. The police official claimed that Amandeep’s father Man Singh was also a peddler and was currently lodged in Sangrur jail following recovery of 12 kg of opium from his possession. SSP said that the police was trying to track down the other culprits behind this nexus including the suppliers and the consumers both.

Muktsar
Youth killed: Gurdev Singh (25), a resident of Ina Khera village, was crushed to death after he lost control over the tractor he was driving and fell under it. The incident took place at Kakhanwali village of Muktsar district on Wednesday night. The police has initiated inquest proceedings.

Moga
52 truckloads of sand seized: The police on Thursday carried out a major operation against sand mafia and took possession of at least 52 trucks from Bet area on the border of Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Moga districts. Moga SSP Surjit Singh Grewal said since the area where these trucks were found was in Jalandhar district, the matter had been referred to the Jalandhar police for action. The SSP said during the past couple of months, the Moga police had registered more than 150 cases against those indulging in illegal mining and transportation of sand.

HARYANA

Chandigarh
Grievances panels: The Haryana Elementary Education Department has constituted the district and the state-level grievances committees for the redressal of grievances of teachers or employees of government-aided private schools regarding their salary or other service benefits. While stating this here on Wednesday, a spokesman of the department said all teachers or employees who had any grievance could submit their grievances in the office of District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO) concerned. He said any other information about grievances committees could be obtained from departmental website www.harprathmik.gov.in.

NHRC nominates Jain: The National Human Rights Commission has nominated Justice Vijender Jain, Chairman of the Haryana Human Rights Commission, as a member of the committee constituted to identify a specific mandate for the human rights courts in the country. Justice Jain said the committee would shortly frame the guidelines and recommendations for the constitution of human rights courts. 

System to track missing children: As a forerunner for the launch of the Missing Child Tracking System (MCTS) project in the state by next year, the Haryana Women and Child Development Department is organising a training proramme on the web portal for tracking missing children on December 10 and 11. Director-General Women and Child Development (WCD) department Sumita Misra said the programme would be organised to effectively monitor and generate a data bank on missing children and child tracking. She said the training would primarily focus on development of software for generation of a data bank on the missing children, data for which would be co-jointly collated and fed by WCD and the Home Department that would further be amalgamated with the central data bank in NIC, Delhi. 

Applications for teachers' recruitment: The Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad has invited applications from female candidates to fill 324 posts of teachers of various disciplines in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhayala which is being set up in 36 educationally backward blocks in the state. Out of the total vacancies, 36 posts would be filled each for Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) of social studies, science, mathematics and Sanskrit. Similarly, 36 posts for part-time teachers each for music, PTI and computer as well as accountant and teacher-cum-warden would also be filled, according to a press note. 

Factories inspected: The inspectorate staff of the Labour Department, Haryana, conducted 24 regular inspections of various industrial establishments and launched prosecutions in 84 cases under the Factories Act, 1948 during the month of September 2012.

Cold storages under PPP planned: The Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board has decided to run 15 cold storage-cum-pack houses at various locations in the state under public private partnership. Expression of interest from firms for running these houses has been invited by December 17. Further information can be obtained from board's website www.hsamb.gov.in. 

Advisory panel reconstituted: The Haryana government has reconstituted and notified the state advisory committee under the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 to advise the appropriate authority in discharging its functions. It would be headed by the professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Dr Daya Sirohiwala. 

Kurukshetra
Skating championship: Ajay Madan, president the Kurukshetra Roller Skating Association, in a statement released to mediapersons here yesterday, said the association has named the District Roller Skating Championship-2012 as the “1st Jeevan Singh Virk Memorial Kurukshetra District Roller Skating Championship” in the memory of Jeevan Singh Virk, a skater from Kurukshetra, who had won many medals in speed skating and roller hockey at the state and the national levels. This two-day championship is going to be organised at Skating Rink, Dronacharya Stadium, here from December 7 he added.