R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Chandigarh
LS poll: BSP finalises 4 names: The Bahujan Samaj Party today announced candidates for four parliamentary seats in Punjab ahead of the general election scheduled next year. The party has fielded Bhagwan Singh Chouhan from Hoshiarpur, Ram Kumar Prajapati from Ferozepur, Jarnail Singh Kamboj from Patiala and Sucha Singh Mann from Khadoor Sahib, BSP national general secretary Narendar Kashyap said.

BJP aid for Chamel’s kin: The BJP on Saturday handed over an amount of Rs 2.76 lakh to Chamel Singh's family, including his wife Kamlesh Devi and son Dara Singh. BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna said, "A compensation of Rs 1 crore should be given by the Jammu and Kashmir government while Rs 25 lakh should be given by the Centre to his family." 

Faridkot
Youth booked for sodomy: Following directions from the Faridkot Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, the police on Saturday booked a 19-year-old youth of Saideke village for allegedly sodomising an eight-year-old boy. Though the child was sodomised on May 13, the victim's family approached the court today.

Moga
Fake DTO, cops escape: Three swindlers managed to escape from police net after being caught extorting money from truck drivers by setting up an illegal naka on the Moga-Amritsar highway near Kadial village today. While one of the accused was posing as a district transport officer, the other two were in police uniform. A Dharamkot police team caught them at the naka.

sangrur
Dalit girl alleges rape: A deputation of CPI (ML) activists met Malerkotla DSP Vimal Kumar on Friday demanding registration of a case and arrest of a person who had allegedly raped a Dalit girl for months on the pretext of marriage. The victim girl was also a part of the deputation. Vimal Kumar said he had received the girl's application and the matter was under investigation.

HARYANA

Chandigarh
DA for pensioners: Finance Minister H S Chattha on Saturday announced a revision in the rates of the dearness relief to the pensioners and family pensioners of the Haryana Government on the revised pension and family pension from January 1, 2013. The revised rate of dearness relief per month will be 80 per cent of pension and family pension, according to a press note. 

Fatehabad
Youth arrested: The police has arrested a youth for the rape of his cousin at Gullarwala in Fatehabad. Vicky, a resident of Hansi, eloped with his minor cousin a month ago.The police arrested the two from Jamalpur railway station in Fatehabad. The accused was produced before a court  on Saturday, where he  was remanded in judicial custody. 

Gurgaon
Bid to suicide: Sajjan Singh, an SHO in Gurgaon, tried to commit suicide by consuming poison in a lock-up on Saturday, a day after being caught red-handed while accepting bribe. Posted in the Sadar police station, Sajjan was arrested by the Vigilance Department with his tout Sanjay Gupta for taking Rs 1 lakh bribe for excluding the name of Rajender Singh from an FIR. He tried to end his life by consuming a mosquito repellent coil. 

Kaithal
Section 144 in Kaithal: District Magistrate Chander Shekhar has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPc in the town from the evening of May18 till May19 evening. These orders have been issued keeping in view the threat issued by dismissed Maruti Manesar plant employees to organise a protest march and to gherao the residence of Randeep Singh Surjewala in Kaithal tomorrow. The administration has also banned the carrying of arms, lathies and other weapons in Kaithal. 

Kurukshetra
Chains snatched: Usha Rani, a resident of the town, in a complaint lodged with the police alleged that two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her gold chain worth Rs 1 lakh and fled away. In another case, Manisha Gaba lodged a complaint that two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her gold chain worth Rs 50,000 and fled away.

KU results: Kurukshetra University has declared the results of B.Tech, 7th Semester, and MA English, 1st and 3rd semesters, held in December 2012. Dr Hukam Singh, Controller of Examinations, KU, said the result had been uploaded on KU website www.result.kuk.ac.in. 

5 surrender for murder: Five out of 13 persons, who were booked for allegedly killing tempo driver Ajay near tempo stand here on May 11, surrendered before district police chief Rakesh Kumar Arya in the presence of hundreds of villagers here on Saturday.

Sirsa
Man gets life term: A local court on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife at Sahuwala village in Sirsa, on September 8, 2011. The accused, Rajbir Singh, had killed his wife Rajbir Kaur by hitting on her head with an iron rod. The police has booked the accused, his father, mother and brother for the murder on the complaint lodged by the victim’s brother, Jaspal Singh, a resident of Gadrana village. Later, the police learnt that other three had no role in the crime. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Eight-foot cobra caught: An 8-foot cobra entered the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Changar sector and stayed in the revenue record room for five days. A snake charmer was called on Wednesday who captured the cobra. 

Leopard kills buffalo: A leopard killed a buffalo of Thakur Dass of Badole village, 90 km from here, recently. Reports said the leopard attacked the buffalo when it was tied in a cowshed and killed it. Villagers, including former Mahila Mandal president Nirmla Devi, Ranjit Singh, Vinod Kumar and Jhabola panchayat president Jagat Ram, urged officials to catch the animal. Forest officials assured compensation to the affected farmer. 

CHAMBA
7 deodar sleepers set afire: A case of burning seven sleepers of deodar was registered against a man and his wife by the police at the Tissa police station in the outlying Churah sub-division of the district late Thursday evening, said a report received here on Friday. The report said the illicit sleepers had been stolen by the couple of the Saikothi area from the Darshan forest area. The cost of the sleepers had been put at Rs 50,400. 

HAMIRPUR
Golden jubilee function: A function was organised at Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Nadaun, on Tuesday to celebrate the golden jubilee of the KV Sangathan. Anurag Thakur, MP, Hamirpur, was the chief guest. In his address Anurag emphasised on the need of having moral values and exhorted the students to follow the sayings of Swami Vivekananda and other seers. The students of the school presented a programme showcasing the rich culture of India. 

KANGRA
57 students donate blood: Marking the 10th World Blood Donors Day 2013 campaign, the Social Work Society of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) organised a blood donation camp on the university campus at Shahpur on Wednesday. Fiftyseven students donated blood on the occasion. Shabab Ahmad, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work School of Social Sciences, CUHP, said blood donation camps boosted the morale of students. He said the objective of this year's campaign was to thank the blood donors. 

2-day ENT camp from today: The local branch of Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service mission with headquarters at Kanya Kumari, will hold a two-day free ear, nose and throat (ENT) camp here as its monthly feature from Sunday. Convener of the kendra PR Agnihotri said the ENT OPD would be held at Gopal Bagh Gurkhari on the outskirts of Kangra town on Sunday at 1 pm and the registration of the patients would start at 12 noon.

NURPUR
Man gets 1-yr jail for theft: The Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Indora, in this sub-division on Saturday sentenced Saleem Khan of Mouzi Nagar, Mumbai, to one-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on him for stealing machinery of a honey factory at Kandrori. A case had been filed on March 2 this year. 

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Srinagar
3 drown in Jhelum: Two minor boys and a labourer from Punjab drowned in the Jhelum in two separate incidents in the Valley, the police said on Saturday. The two boys, Sameer Ahmad Sheikh and Dawood Ahmad Sheikh, both six years old, drowned while bathing in the Jhelum near their residence at Sher colony in Sopore, Baramulla, on Friday evening, a police spokesman said. Surinder Lal (22), a labourer from Punjab, drowned in the Jhelum at Sangam in Anantnag on Friday evening.

Bank for network expansion: Jammu and Kashmir Bank will add over 300 new business units in the next two years to take the total number of units to 1,000, said a top official. "The bank has set a goal of 1,000 business units by 2015. We also envisage a massive ATM network expansion," said chairperson and CEO of the bank Mushtaq Ahmad.

Banihal
Two killed in accident: Two persons were killed and one injured when an oil tanker they were in was hit by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction near Ramsoo in Ramban district on Saturday. The tanker, on its way from Jammu to Srinagar, fell into a 300-ft gorge. The body of Shaheen Ahmad has been recovered and conductor of the tanker Mubarak Ahmed is still missing.

DEHRADUN

Gangolihat
Science outreach programme: India comes at the fifth place in the world in the field of science research while the USA is at the first place followed by China. This was stated by an eminent scientist and science adviser to the Prime Minister, Prof CNR Rao, here on Saturday. Dr Rao, who was here to address schoolchildren as part of a science outreach programme organised by an NGO, said: At present, they are spending only 1 per cent of the GDP on science research while China is spending much more than ours.”

Haldwani
Scholarships for 744 kids of exe-servicemen: The state government has decided to grant scholarships to 744 children of ex- servicemen for higher and employment-oriented courses. This was stated by District Social Welfare Officer RS Rautela here on Saturday. Each student will be given Rs 1,000 per month under the scholarship. They can obtain the amount from the respective Sainik Welfare Office. “Besides this, the state has also sanctioned monetary help for the widows of ex-servicemen for the marriage of their daughter,” said Rautela.

Lalkuwan
Lakuwan passes Nagar Panchayat Rs 5.13-cr budget: The Lakuwan Nagar Panchayat on Saturday passed a budget of Rs 5.13 crore, besides adopting 14 resolutions, including one for the construction of a bypass in the town. “We have decided to increase the profit of the Nagar Panchayat by inviting tenders for tax on street vendors in the town,” said Ram Babu Mishra, chairman of the Nagar Panchayat.

Ramnagar
Rehabilitation of flood-hit villagers begins: The process to rehabilitate flood-affected villagers of Chukum situated near the Koshi river has been started by the district administration, which is trying to make grant available to landless residents of the village from Central government agencies. “Out of the 136 families to be resettled from the village, only 50 families will be given land for cultivation as a compensation while the rest of the families will be given compensation for losing jobs,” said SS Jangpangi, SDM, Ramnagar.