R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Man surrenders in wife’s killing: Parkash Singh, the prime accused in the murder of his wife Ranjit Kaur at Manawala village falling under the Lopoke police station, surrendered before the police on Thursday. The remaining accused are still at large. Amritsar Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Preet Paul Singh Virk confirmed the development.

Bathinda/Faridkot
Swine flu claims life in Bathinda: A 30-year-old woman patient died of swine flu at a hospital in Bathinda on Wednesday. The victim, a resident of Gobind Colony in the cantonment area, had been undergoing treatment since January 23. Meanwhile, two more confirmed and one suspected case of H1N1 virus were reported in Faridkot on Wednesday. Swine flu scare gripped Faridkot three days ago when a middle-aged man died of the disease at a private hospital in Ludhiana.

Fazilka
Job scheme: Fazilka spends Rs 15 cr: The district has emerged number one in the state in providing jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in 2012-13 so far. Fazilka Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg said: "A hefty amount of Rs 15 crore has been spent under the scheme in the district during the current financial year, which is the highest in the state". Workers of 22,297 families were given 5,55,912 daily wage jobs throughout the district.

Ludhiana
City Centre case adjourned till Feb 14: The court of Sessions Judge GS Matharoo on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the multi-crore City Centre scam case till February 14. The court heard the arguments by defence lawyer representing a former trustee of Ludhiana Improvement Trust Bhupinder Singh Basant. The lawyer submitted that no case was made out against his client and hence there was no ground for framing charges against him.

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh
Students attend leadership development workshops: Vivek Mahotsava, a four-day programme focusing on the inspirational messages of Swami Vivekananda, concluded today at Gandhi Bhavan, Panjab University. Youth-empowering leadership development workshops were conducting on the concluding day. More than 130 students attended the programme.

Panchkula
Life term for murdering fellow priest: A local court on Thursday awarded life sentence along with a fine of Rs 3,000 to Jagmohan Giri, a convict, for murdering a fellow priest in 2011. Jagmohan Giri had murdered 90-year-old Sheetal Giri at Shiv temple in Bhareli village, Barwala. Both the victim and convict were performing ‘khari tapasaya’ (an act of worship by standing) together for the past one month before the incident. The villagers found the body of Sheetal Giri in his room with injury marks on his head.

DEHRADUN

Shifting of Sunday market: District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam and SSP Kewal Khurana held a joint meeting here yesterday and announced the shifting of the Sunday market to Tibbet Market at Chunna Bhatta, Raipur Road.

Boy commits suicide: Sumit, son of Dhani Lal and resident of Raipur, committed suicide on Tuesday. According to the police, the 15-year-old boy was under depression for not doing well in his studies.