R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Man run over by bus: A 50-year-old labourer was crushed to death after falling off a bus near the power house in Malout on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Abul Khurana village. The victim was coming to the town from his village when the mishap occurred.

Nawanshahr

Youth dies in road mishap: A teenager died and his brother got injured in a collision between a tractor-trailer and a canter near Beerowal village on Saturday. Manjinder Singh of Beerowal village died on the spot while injured Baljinder Singh was rushed to a private hospital here.

Phagwara

Four hurt in accident: Four persons, including two women, got injured in a collision between a Bolero car and a Verna car near Mehli village on Phagwara-Banga road on Saturday evening. The injured included Surjit Kaur, her son Amarjit Singh and daughter Arshdeep Kaur, residents of Hyderowal village in Fatehbad, Haryana, and Verna driver Sat Paul of Mohali. They were admitted to Dhahan-Kaleran Hospital where their condition is said to be stable.

Ropar

NRI Sammelan on Jan 10: The second two-day NRI Sammelan will begin at Virasat-e-Khalsa, the museum of Sikh heritage and Punjabi culture, at Anandpur Sahib on January 10. The open house on the concluding day of the sammelan, however, will be organised at Jalandhar. SS Channy, Principal Secretary, NRI affairs, said 300 NRIs had been invited.

Cold wave claims life: A man, who was asleep in the open, died of the prevailing cold wave. The body of an unidentified beggar was found at Morinda on Saturday. The temperature in the district dipped to 6 degree centigrade on Friday. The Meteriological Department officials said the weather would get warmer from Monday.

Sangrur

Factory gutted: A tyre resoling factory at Focal Point was gutted in a fire on Saturday. The raw material, machinery and the factory shed was damaged. The owner's losses are yet to be ascertained. Amar Nath, Sub Fire Officer of the local municipal fire brigade, said two fire tenders had been rushed to the site and the fire was extinguished in over two hours. He said the cause of the fire was yet to be found.

CHANDIGARH

Community centre opened: A community centre was inaugurated at Sector 49 today. Constructed at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore and spread over 8.5 acres, the centre can accommodate 500 persons and has six rooms. It also has a library and a gymnasium.

Complaint lodged: A city-based activist filed a complaint at the Chandigarh police's public window in Sector 9, stating that a case should be registered against Bollywood actors and NGOs fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians. The complainant, Harit Kumar, stated that the SC had pronounced that gay sex was an offence punishable under Section 377 and its promotion by the NGOs and film personalities was illegal. 

Meeting held: A meeting of the District Congress Committee (Urban I), Chandigarh, was held at Congress Bhawan in Sector 35, today. MP PK Bansal, MP Harish Chaudhary, Congress president BB Bahl and Congress leader HS Lucky discussed various issues. The local unit of the Congress discussed poll strategies.

HARYANA

lderly couple killed in mishap: An elderly couple was killed on the Ambala-Hisar highway near Abdullapur village here today when their car collided with a bus. The deceased were Jarnail Singh (65) and his wife Gunam Kaur (61). A case has been registered against the driver. 

DEHRADUN

Cheating cases: Cases of forgery and cheating have been lodged against two gram pradhans of the Salt block of the district and money has been recovered from them. The gram pradhans have cheated the administration in the implementation of the MNREGA and Hariyali schemes. “We have recovered Rs 27,000 and Rs 3 lakh from the gram pradhans last month,” said Dr Iqbal Ahmed, CDO of Almora.

Dehradun

Chakka jam by bus operators: The city bus operators staged a chakka jam on Saturday, seeking proper compliance of permit rules for tempo passenger vehicles in Dehradun. The pressident of the City Bus Operators Union, Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal, said tempos were flouting all permit rules thereby affecting the business of city buses. The city bus operators threatened to intensify their agitation if immediate action was not taken against tempo operators.

Visually challenged hold march: Visually handicapped persons take out a march on Saturday as part of canvassing for the rally of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at Parade Ground on Sunday. They appealed to the people to take part in the rally. Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi led the march.

Two bodies recovered: Two bodies were recovered from the Mata Mandir railway crossing in the city here on Satuday. One of the bodies had a deep injury mark on the forehead while the other had a severed leg. The police could not ascertain their identities. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem. The police is investigating the case.

gadarpur

Eunuchs’ conference begins: The All India Conference of Eunuch began at Gadarpur town on Saturday. About 100 delegates from the eunuchs’ organisations from all over the country are taking part in it. Common people from the area are not allowed to take part in the conference.

haldwani

Beautification of Haldwani parks: Finance Minister Indira Hriyadesh has ordered the beautification of four parks situated on the Nainital road in Haldwani town to attract tourists and give a boost to tourism. “The minister has also ordered that the parks be landscaped beautifully with a rich variety of flowers and benches, besides erecting dividers on the adjoining road to prevent accidents. “We have decided to have plantation at the space between the dividers so that these could also be beautified,” said GS Pangti, superintending engineer of the PWD.

Women nab liquor smuggler: Women of Managher village in Nainital district on Saturday caught an alleged smuggler of illegal liquor in the area and destroyed liquor bottles. “Though we informed the administration about the incident, no one came to help us. This infuriated village women who caught hold of the smuggler and destroyed his liquor bottles. Drunkard villagers have destroyed the good atmosphere in our village,” said Ratuli Devi, a resident of Managher village.

ramnagar

Nature guides gherao Tourism Minister: Ousted nature guides of the Jim Corbett National Park gheraoed Tourism minister Amrita Rawat on her arrival at Ramnagar on Saturday. They demanded the resumption of reallocation of forest rest houses in the Dhikala zone of the Corbett Tiger Reserve where tourists used to stay. “We went to plead with the minister to intervene in the matter as the park authorities have ousted us from the zone, directly affects our livelihood,” said Bhupendra Singh Khati, who led the protest. However, the police did not allow Khati to meet the minister.

(Compiled by BD Kasniyal)