R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

bathinda
SGPC ex-member’s son booked:The women cell of the Bathinda police has booked Mubarak Singh, son of former SGPC member Davinder Kaur, for allegedly demanding dowry from his wife Ravneet Kaur. In her complaint, Ravneet alleged Mubarak had been harassing her for dowry. She had earlier presented her case before IG Nirmal Singh Dhillon during a public meeting held here on December 18.

barnala
Youth killed:A 23-year-old youth, Devinder Singh, was allegedly killed by three persons. His body was found from a field, situated near Bhadalwadh village, over four km from Barnala on Saturday morning. Navdeep Singh, Station House Officer of Sadar police station said a case had been registered against Gurpreet Singh, Gulab Singh and Jagjeewan Singh under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. No one has been arrested so far.

7 jobless linemen arrested:The Barnala district police today arrested seven unemployed linemen when they disrupted Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s speech on Sardar Sewa Singh Thikriwala’s martyrdom day at Thikriwala village. Thikriwala was a freedom fighter and had died in a Patiala Jail 77 years ago. The police later let off the unemployed linemen that were arrested. The protesters demanded that the 4,000 unemployed linemen be issued appointment letters.

chandigarh
Polio drive:As many as 37,33,972 children in the age group of 0-5 years will be administered pulse polio drops from Sunday, an official press release said. As many as 14,936 booths have been established in different places across the state.

Ferozepur
Boy found after 2 months:Almost two months after a four-year-old boy, Anosh, went missing from his home, the police on Saturday recovered the child and handed him over to his parents. The police also arrested a woman, Balwinder Kaur, who had allegedly kidnapped the child while he was playing outside his house. She later sold him to a widow, Luxmi, in Guruharsahai for Rs 20,000, the police said.

Ludhiana
Avinash Kumar is new DHO: Dr Avinash Kumar has joined as the District Health Officer, Ludhiana. Earlier, he was serving as DHO, Barnala. His predecessor Dr Jasbeer Singh has been transferred to Phagwara. 

Phagwara
2 con travel agents held:The police has arrested two "fake" travel agents, Sham Batra and his wife Komal Batra, for allegedly duping a villager, Param Gurshish, of Rs 4.37 lakh on the pretext of sending him abroad. Superintendent of Police HPS Khakh said another accused in the case, Deepak Sharma, was yet to be arrested.

Sangrur
6 held in honour killing:The police has arrested six persons in the alleged honour killing case of a 23-year-old girl of Hussainpura village. The victim reportedly wanted to marry a boy of the same village against the wishes of her family. The police said the girl was allegedly murdered on January 9 and cremated by the family the same night. Those arrested, including Bahadur Singh (girl's father), Harnek Singh, Jagtar Singh, Gurdip Singh, Amzad Ali and Gurmeet Singh, were produced in a Malerkotla court on Saturday, which remanded them to police custody for two days.

Tarn Taran
3 held with fake currency:The police has arrested three persons after recovering fake Indian currency of Rs 2 lakh face value at different nakas in the area. Senior Superintendent of Police Kamaljit Singh Dhillon said the accused had been identified as Sital Singh and Jagjit Singh of Manochahal Kalan village and Mandeep Singh Manna of Chhehrta.

Minor girl abducted:Gurpreet Singh (22), a youth of Kalsian Kalan village, 35 km from here, has been booked for allegedly abducting a 15-year-old girl of the same village. In his complaint to the police, the girl's father alleged that the accused lured the victim, a Class V student, on the pretext of marrying her.

HARYANA

Kurukshetra
One killed in mishap:One person was killed on the spot when a truck hit his bicycle near a drain bridge on the Ambala-Pehowa Road on Friday evening. The deceased has been identified as Harbans Singh, a resident of Pehowa. The police has arrested truck driver Kanwaljeet Singh. 

Two held under Excise Act:The police has arrested Manoj Kumar of Mohan Nagar and Prem Kumar of New Colony, under the Excise Act for allegedly possessing country-made liquor. Seven bottles of liquor were seized from Manoj and eight from Prem.

Sonepat
2 arrested for murder:The Mohana police has arrested Kuldeep and Salim of Pinana village for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Sunil of the same village. The court remanded them in police custody.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Hamirpur
Shop gutted:A shop was gutted at the main bazaar here on Friday night. The fire, which was noticed around midnight, destroyed a shop owned by the KD Printing Press. Fire tenders were put into service to bring the fire under control and prevent it from spreading to other shops.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

A shopkeeper arranges National Flags ahead of Republic Day in Jammu on Saturday. A tribune photo

Jammu
Lineman acquitted:TCBI special judge (anti-corruption cases) BL Bhat on Saturday acquitted Sat Pal, lineman of BSNL posted at Sarwal, who was caught red-handed by the CBI while accepting a bribe of Rs 500 for installing a telephone.

Rajouri
Relief for snow-hit:The district unit of the PDP on Saturday demanded relief and basic amenities for the people living in snow-affected areas of twin border district of Rajouri and Poonch. PDP district president Abdul Qayoom Dar also visited several snow-hit areas of Rajouri district.

Srinagar
One dies, six hurt in mishap:One person was killed and six others njured in a road accident in Leh on Friday, the police said. A minibus bearing registration number JK010/1494 skidded off the road near the ITBP Gate, Choglamsar, resulting in the on the spot death of a passenger. The police said all the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. “A case has been registered in this regard,” the police said.

DEHRADUN

Bageshwar
Uttaryani festival ends:The six-day traditional festival of Uttarayani concluded at Bageshwar on Friday evening. The special guest on the occasion was Kapkot MLA Lalit Farswan, besides Chandan Ram Das, who was the chief guest of the ceremony. “As the state government has announced making this festival as state festival, from coming years, the festival will be organised on a larger scale," said Farswan, Congress MLA from Kapkot. According to mela chairman Subodh Lal Shah, 90 departments and local entrepreneurs had taken part in the festival in the festival.

Dehradun
Drinking water problem:A meeting to discuss the drinking water problem in the Mussoorie Assembly constituency was held in Dehradun on Saturday. The Kandighat drinking water scheme was particularly discussed. Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi told the meeting that a total of 14.42 million litre per day (MLD) of drinking water was needed for Mussoorie while it was receiving just 7.67 MLD. Principal Secretary, Drinking Water, S Raju was also present.

Privatisation of banks:The Uttarakhand Trade Unions’ Coordination Committee has demanded that rampant privatisation of the banking sector in the country should be stopped. The speakers at a meeting of the committee called for opposing the privatisation of banks tooth and nail. It was also decided that a call for the closure of all banks on February 20 and 21 be given in support of their demand.

Licence must for pets:The Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has announced to start a drive to create awareness about the requirement to acquire licences for keeping pet dogs. According to senior DMC official Dr Gurupal Singh, most of the people who have pets in their houses have not acquired licences from the corporation. He said it was unlawful to keep a pet in the house without a licence.

NSS camp begins:A five-day National Service Scheme camp started at Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalaya in Dehradun on Saturday. Pushpa Manas, Secretary, State Child Development Board, inaugurated the camp. She laid stress on the importance of social service in life. A cultural programme was also staged by the participants on the occasion.

Pritam’s suspension opposed:Some members of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Progressive) have criticised party president Trivendra Singh Panwar for suspending party MLA and minister Pritam Singh Panwar. UKD (P) leader Satish Semwal said it was completely unjustified on the part of Trivendra Singh Panwar to suspend the sole MLA, Pritam Singh Panwar. Another party leader NK Gusain too criticised Trivendra on the issue.

ICFRE chief praised:The Technical Staff Association of the Indian Council of Forest Research and Education has thanked Director General, ICFRE, Dr VK Bahuguna for redressing their long-standing pension and medical-linked demands. Association secretary CM Sharma said VK Bahuguna’s efforts towards resolving the issues of employees had been unparalleled.

Garhwal Sports win:In the first Late Shri Neel Ratan Kashyap Memorial District Football Tournament being played here, Garhwal Sports and Garhwal Boys won their quarterfinal matches on Saturday. In the first match, Garhwal Sports won against Wills Youth 3-0. Jitendra and Virendra and Mohit scored the goals. In the second match, Garhwal Boys beat Pachwadoon 2-0. Ritesh scored both the goals. According to VS Rawat, Chief Referree, semi-final matches will be played tomorrow.

Haldwani
Profit from mining:Citizens of Haldwani have demanded that local people from hill districts and those living near the river beds be given 50 per cent profit from the mining of minor minerals from these rivers. “These minor minerals, which cost Rs 8 per quintal at Gaula bed, are being sold at a cost of Rs 75 per quintal at stone crushers, resulting in dearer building construction material for locals,” said Abdul Malik, adviser of a local orgnisation of Haldwani citizens. Malik said that the local mineral was more costly in comparison to the one purchased from Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur by local people.

Lalkuan
Blankets distributed:Labour Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal has distributed more than 500 blankets to poor people of Lalkuan region, who were shivering from the cold due to last evening’s heavy rain in the region. A camp was organised by local supporters of the minister to distribute blankets to those poor supporters who had helped the minister win his election from the Assembly seat. “The poor, old and lepers from Nagina colony, Khaddi mohalla, and Bengali colony and leprosy camp benefited from this gesture,” said Bhuwan Pandey, representative of the minister.

Nainital
Coldest day:With 30 mm rainfall and 3 degree Celsius minimum temperature, the tourist town of Nainital witnessed the coldest day of the season on Friday. The town started receiving snowfall from early evening on Friday. The snowfall caused inconvenience to local people and tourists as it led to road blocks though there was a heavy flow of vehicles to the town. “Besides Nainital town, the towns of the Terai region also witnessed the coldest temperature of the season as the temperature dropped drastically in the Terai region,” said HS Kushwaha, weather unit in charge.

Nanakmatta
Gurpurb celebrated:The members of the Sikh community in the Terai region celebrated the birth anniversary of the Tenth Guru Gobind Singh with respect and human touch. A nagar kirtan procession was taken out on this occasion at Haldwani, Kashipur, Gardarpur and Nanakmatta towns. “The community held an akhand path at gurdwaras and invited ragis from various parts of the country to inform the people about the glory of the Gurus,” said Ranjit Singh, a member of the gurdwara management committee at Nanakmatta.

(Compiled by BD Kasniyal)