R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Six bookies arrested, 57 phones seized: Six cricket bookies were arrested during a police raid led by Jawahar Nagar Station House Officer at a house in Sriganganagar on Tuesday night. They have been identified as Sumit Kumar and Raj Mohinder of Abohar; Pankaj Bihani of Aggarsein Nagar; Mohinder Kumar of Purani Abadi; Gopal of Peelibanga and Deepak Garg. The police seized 57 mobile phones, two recording systems, one LED TV, two laptops and other gadgets from them. The police said they were betting on the ongoing commercial cricket series in Australia.

Dera Bassi
Sports meet: A sports meet was held at Sukhmani International School in Dera Bassi. It was inaugurated by Prof Avtar Singh, chairman of Sukhmani group. Students took part in events such as 100 m race, relay race, long jump, etc. The chief guest gave away the medals, certificates and trophies to the winners.@@Principal Sudeshna Sharma applauded the efforts of the students and staff for a successful event.

Fatehgarh Sahib
Health scheme implemented: Deputy Commissioner Arun Sekhri on Thursday said that teams of the Punjab Health Department and National Insurance were visiting villages to issue smart cards to beneficiaries of the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Yojana. As per the scheme, people belonging to the economically weaker section would be entitled to free health treatment up to Rs 30,000 in the government-approved private hospitals.

Hoshiarpur
Strike against Nagar Panchayat status: The Nagar Panchayat Hatao Sangharsh Committee and the Kandi Sangharsh Committee continued their serial hunger strike demanding cancellation of the Municipal Panchayat status of Talwara town. Shamsher Singh, Usha Kiran Suri, Parkash Chand and Kaushalya Devi sat on hunger strike.

Ludhiana
Woman dies of swine flu: A woman died of swine flu at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here on Tuesday night. She was from Una district in Himachal Pradesh was admitted to the DMCH on January 27. Another patient suspected to be infected with the virus has been referred to PGI, Chandigarh, for testing. District Epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma said three cases of swine flu had been reported this year so far.

Festive fervour: On Basant Panchami, Tagore Public School, Birmi, was decorated with yellow flowers and balloons. An inter-house kite flying competition was held. Students of the pre-primary and primary sections participated in drawing, colouring and kite-making competitions.

Farewell: Class XI students of GRD Academy gave a warm send-off to their seniors. The function began with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest and principal of the school. The outgoing students were given different titles on the basis of a personality round. They were selected on the basis of their dressing sense, confidence and smartness.

Lecture on drug abuse: Assistant Inspector General (Intelligence) Gurpreet Singh Toor delivered a lecture on drug addiction at Amrit Indo-Canadian Academy. He made the students aware of perils of drug abuse. The lecture was delivered through a multi-media presentation. Slides depicting various statistics, causes, pros and cons of the malady were exhibited. The mentor exhorted the students to say no to drugs.

Students shine: Phillaur: DRV DAV Centenary Public School secured the third position in a quiz conducted by the IIT, Kanpur. A total of 88 schools from 44 cities participated in the quiz on earthquakes. The team comprising Gunjan (Class IX), Khushi (Class IX) and Palak Goyal (Class X) gave their best in the four rounds—round robin, picture round, rapid-fire round and lucky number round—to finish among the top three. — TNS

Knit World 2014 exhibition from February 14: Knit World’ 2014 International Exhibition on Knitting-Garment-Allied Machines and Accessories will start from February 14 to 17 at Dana Mandi, near Jalandhar bypass, Ludhiana.

Vardhman textiles quarterly net profit up 109.6%: Continuing with its good performance in the financial year 2013-14, Vardhman Textiles Limited, one of the leading textile companies in India, has earned a net profit of Rs 175.24 crore. The net profit registered an increase of 109.6 per cent as compared to the profits of corresponding quarter last year that stood at Rs 83.62 crore. The nine-month profits are Rs 497.55 crores which are the highest ever profits earned by the company during this period. The net sales of the company for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, is Rs 1415.98 crore as compared to Rs 1,083.18 crore for quarter ended December 31, 2012, showing an increase of about 30.72 per cent. The Ebitda on standalone basis is Rs 345.88 crore for the quarter showing a growth of 53.17 per cent over quarter ended December 31, 2012, (Rs. 225.80 crore). The Ebitda margin is also up at 24.43 per cent during the quarter as against 20.85 per cent of corresponding period.

book exhibition inaugurated: Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, inaugurated a book exhibition at the varsity on Wednesday. Librarian S Prabhakar said 31 publishers and distributors were participating in the exhibition.

Muktsar
Sardaria Trust holds Dastar Chetna march: The Sardaria Youth Charitable Trust on Tuesday organised a Dastar Chetna March in 11 villages of Lambi assembly constituency to reunite Sikh youths with their culture. Shri Keshgarh Sahib Jathedar Giani Mal Singh, Sardaria Youth Charitable Trust chairman Satnam Singh Dabrikhana were among those present in the march.

Patiala
Writer to be awarded today: Sahitya Akademi Award winner Darshan Singh Aasht, working in Punjabi University, Patiala, will be given the National Award for Children’s Literature in Punjabi language by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children, New Delhi, on Thursday. The award includes a cash prize ~5,100. Shashi Tharoor, HRD Minister of State, will present a memento to him at India Habitat Centre, Delhi.

Sangrur
Three students hurt in group clash: Three youths were injured in a clash between two groups of students at Guru Teg Bahadur College, Bhawanigarh, on Wednesday. They were admitted to Community Health Centre, Bhawanigarh, from where they were shifted to Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. Bhawanigarh SHO Parminder Singh said the groups had clashed over the issue of presidentship of the college. Jagdish Singh Deesha, Sarbjit Singh Kakra and Jagseer Singh had sustained injuries, he said, adding that a case was yet to be registered.

Tarn Taran
Man booked for abduction: Gurcharan Singh of Bhagwanpur village, 35 km from here, has been booked for abducting a teenaged girl of his village. Though sources said the accused has been arrested and the abducted girl recovered, the police are yet to confirm the development. In another case, the police have said Harjinder Kaur (32) of Bhikhiwind town went missing.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Una
‘NaMo tea stalls’ for Hamirpur: The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has identified around 1,500 tea stalls in the Hamirpur parliamentary segment, which will be designated as “NaMo tea stalls” during the run-up to the general elections. This was stated today by Sumit Sharma, BJYM state vice-president and in charge of Hamirpur parliamentary segment.