Abohar
Nanded train halt: The Sriganganagar-Abohar-Nanded Express has been allowed another halt in Malwa region. North Western Railway chief PRO Tarun Jain said the train would halt for a minute at Rampura Phul station between Bathinda and Tapa from January 27. Earlier, a halt at Gidderbaha was allowed.

Power corp JEs strike work: PSPCL Junior Engineers (JEs) on Wednesday stayed away from work and switched off their mobile phones to express resentment over the delay in fulfilling their demands. They demand revision of pay and allowances, 23-year service promotional increment and filling of vacant posts through promotions response.

BATHINDA
Habit-forming drugs confiscated: The Kotwali police on Wednesday arrested two persons and seized 27 bottles of cough syrups, used as drugs, from near the Santpura road. The police arrested Paramjit Singh a resident of area near Shaheed Jarnail Singh Park and Hapreet Singh from street number 4, Lala Singh Basti. In another incident the police confiscated eight bottles of habit-forming drugs and a Maruti car from the accused near Nawan Abad village. The accused has been identified as Rajwinder Singh of Giana village. He was carrying the cough syrups in the car.

13 litres of illicit liquor seized: The police on Wednesday seized 13 litres of illicit liquor at Bir Talab village, while the accused Shinda Singh managed to flee.

Two held for stealing construction material: Two persons were held while stealing construction material from the HBN Colony on the Mansa Road. In his complaint to the police the manager of the colony Jagjit Singh said on the intervening night of January 20 and 21, the accused identified as Simranjit Singh from Model Town phase III and Satish Kumar from Patel Nagar area were taking away construction material in their car number PB 10 M 4525. The material recovered include four feet long pipe, two weight lifts, 20 lift ML lock, box and three iron plates. The value of the entire stolen goods is Rs 35,000.

Fazilka
Lecturers on indefinite strike: The guest faculty of MR Government College on Wednesday started an indefinite strike in protest against the Government not fulfilling their demands. The guest lecturers want 10 per cent increase in their salaries annually, vacancies to be filled and the government to engage them for the entire year and not just for the academic session.

2 held for illegal sand mining: The police have arrested two persons on the charge of excavating sand illegally from Mumbeki village in the district. They seized three tractors and a JCB machine from the accused. SHO Chhinder Singh said that on a tip-off, police conducted a raid at the village, where the accused and their accomplices were excavating sand. On seeing the police, all but two fled. They have been identified as Davinder Singh and Gurvinder Singh.

LUDHIANA
Yellow rust: The head of the Department of Plant Pathology, PAU, Dr PP Singh, said infection of yellow rust has been observed in villages of districts such as Ropar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and Fatehgarh Sahib. Dr PP Singh advised farmers to monitor their fields on a regular basis so as to identify the disease and do the needful before it’s too late.

Book released: The third collection of poetry by poet Jaswant Zafar was released by Ujagar Singh Kanwal at Punjabi Bhawan.

Felicitation function on Feb 1: Dr SS Dosanjh and Dr MS Randhawa will be honoured by Kaumi Sahit, Kala Parishad in association with the Punjabi Sahit Academy on February 1 at Punjabi Bhawan. Dr Dosanjh’s 75th birthday also falls on the same date. A cash prize of Rs 51,000 will be given to Dosanjh on the occasion.

Mobiles stolen: Thieves struck at a mobile shop in the Dholewal Area and decamped with 40 mobile phones. The incident came to light when owner of the shop Amit Kumar reached the shop in the morning and found the shutter broken. The police has registered a case and started investigation.

Nakodar
Man shot in Manila: An NRI was allegedly shot dead in Manila by two motorcycle-borne assailants on January 20. A pall of gloom descended on victim Kashmir Singh’s native village Aulka here. A source informed the family of the deceased about the murder on Tuesday. Kashmir Singh had been residing in Manila for seven years. He was on way to his job when the assailants opened fired at him. He died on the spot.

Nawanshahr
Woman murdered: A youth allegedly murdered a woman at Mehndipur village on the Garhshanker road on Wednesday. Suresh (38) was working in the fields when the accused attacked her. The police have registered a case against an unidentified youth on the statement of the victim’s brother-in-law, Husan Lal.

Phagwara
3 held in dowry case: The police have booked former president of district BJP NGO cell president Rakesh Jalota, his wife Poonam Jalota and sons Vivek and Hemant on the charges of torturing Vivek's wife Neha (24) for dowry. The victim allegedly committed suicide at her in-laws' house in Vishawkarma Nagar on Tuesday evening. Ravinder Singh, SHO, said all the accused barring Hemant had been arrested.