R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Poppy husk recovered: The police on Saturday arrested Ashok Singh and Balkar Singh of Mahalam village (Jalalabad) under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Their scooter was intercepted near Waryamkhera village and 53 kg of poppy husk was seized from them.

53 kg poppy husk recovered: The police on Saturday arrested Ashok Singh and Balkar Singh of Mahalam village (Jalalabad) under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Their scooter was intercepted near Waryamkhera village and 53 kg of poppy husk was seized from them.

Hoshiarpur
Two held with drugs: The Chabbewal police have arrested two persons with unlicenced drugs. They were booked under Sections 22, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Paramjit Singh of Bhatpur Jattan was nabbed with 400 tablets having narcotic effect and Amandeep Singh of Dadial with 200 such capsules. They were arrested near a martyr's statue in Jaijon. They did not have any licence to store, sell or carry such medicines.

Sangrur
SLIET students awarded: As many as 666 students on Saturday were awarded certificates and diplomas in food technology, chemical engineering, computer science engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering etc at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET), Longowal. Meanwhile, a two-day conference on “Innovative techniques in the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals" concluded at the SLIET campus. The conference was organised by the Department of Food Engineering and Technology, SLIET, in which more than 150 delegates participated.

Road blocked in Malerkotla: Members of the Muslim Federation of Punjab today staged a dharna and blocked traffic for over two hours at Jarag Chowk in Malerkotla. They were demanding arrest of persons who had raised “objectionable” slogans against the community during a protest march in Ludhiana in December. The dharna was lifted when the police assured them that necessary action would be taken against the accused.

Tarn Taran
Filling station employee killed, Rs 18,000 stolen: Two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths allegedly killed an employee of a petrol pump at Dialpur village, 25 km from here, this evening and took away Rs 18,000 from a cash bag. Amarjit Singh (32) was reportedly killed with a sharp-edged weapon. A police team allegedly reached the spot two hours after the crime. Most of the policemen, including Bhikhiwind Deputy Superintendent of Police Harpal Singh, had gone for “VIP duty”.The Bhikhiwind police have initiated further proceedings.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Pensioners unhappy with Budget provisions: A meeting of the district unit of the HP State Pensioners’ Welfare Association was held here on Wednesday, wherein members expressed resentment over the recent Budget announcement. They said instead of increasing the pension, they were given 5, 10 and 15 per cent allowance. Association spokesperson Hukam Singh Thakur said other demands included clearance of arrears of medical reimbursement bills, Rs 500 as monthly medical allowance on Punjab pattern, a month’s salary as “pilgrim allowance” after every two years and formation of state-level panel for solving their problems. Those present on the occasion, included association president Daulat Ram Chauhan, state senior vice-president JK Nadda, district president Rama Nand Sharma, general secretary Jagdish Dinesh, chief auditor Prem Lal Bina and chief adviser Sohan Singh Patial.

DHARAMSALA
15 injured as HRTC bus overturns: Fifteen passengers were seriously injured when an HRTC bus overturned near the Goon area on the Pathankot-Dehra road. Sources here said the bus was going from Pathankot to Shimla. The accident took place when the bus was trying to overtake a vehicle. At the time of the accident there were about 35 passengers in the bus. The injured were shifted to the Nagrota Surian block hospital. Later, three of them were referred to the Tanda hospital.

NURPUR
Health insurance cover sought for scribes: The Nurpur Press Club has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to provide health insurance cover to mediapersons in the state. Pradeep Sharma, president of the club, in a statement here on Saturday said the previous BJP government had announced this insurance cover to mediapersons in 2012 and issued a notification in this connection. He said the club had handed over a memorandum to the Chief Minister and apprised him of this demand of journalists during his visit to Nurpur on January 8.

Panchayat chief’s election set aside: The Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Civil, set aside the election of Neena Devi as pradhan (chief) of the Kotpalahri gram panchayat here on Thursday. As per information, the post of the panchayat pradhan was reserved for a Scheduled Castes (SC) candidate and Neena Devi had won the post by defeating her rival Guddo Devi. The latter challenged Neena’s election by filing a petition before the SDO. As Neena failed to produce the SC certificate, the SDO set aside her election.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Ex-minister Shabir attends Assembly: Former Minister of State for Health Shabir Ahmed Khan, who is facing molestation charges, today attended the Legislative Assembly session here. Khan was forced to resign following the allegations of sexual assault. He was released on bail three days back and had approached the police for allowing him to attend the on going Assembly session.