R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Blue card holders protest: Villagers held a protest in Balluana village on the Abohar-Malout stretch. They said fair price shop owners had told them that only 5 kg wheat would be issued to blue card holders against the earlier practice of releasing wheat for six months together.

2 gang rape cases: The police have booked Prem Kumar, Mangi Ram and Bhup Ram of Kular village in Balluana segment for raping a woman, aged about 25 years, after giving her intoxicated "prasad". In another case, Manu and his two unidentified friends were booked for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl at 40 RB village in Sriganganagar.

YAD leader booked in another cheating case: The police have registered another case against Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leader Amandeep of Khilchian village in Jalalabad and his mother. He had recently been granted bail by the High Court in another case.

Sangrur
Consumer forum pulls up LIC: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to pay Rs 10 lakh with interest, against two insurance policies, to a widow. It has also been directed to pay Rs 20,000 to her as compensation for harassment and litigation expenses.

Traders protest at Dhuri: Traders blocked rail traffic for over two hours at the railway crossing at Dhuri. They were protesting the proposed erection of an iron over-bridge near Loha Bazar, saying it would affect business adversely.

HARYANA

Ambala
450 students get degrees: As many as 450 students were awarded degrees at DAV College, Ambala City, on Saturday. Radhey Shyam Sharma, VC of Devi Lal University, Sirsa, also distributed prizes among 100 students.

DEHRADUN

Almora
Storm hits campaigning: Campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in the Kumaon region was affected due to a strong storm on Friday. The storm not only disrupted electricity supply but also destroyed the standing rabi and fruit crops. It forced the people to take out woollens due to cold conditions caused due to medium snowfall at high Himalayan peaks. "While Chief Minister Harish Rawat had to address a public meeting at Kanda in Bageshwar district through mobile phone from Sitarganj, his another public meeting at Chitai was cancelled due to continuous rain for the last 24 hours," said Bittu Karnatak, Congress chief of Almora district.

Haldwani
Preventive arrests: Eight persons have been arrested under the Goonda Act and two other debarred from entering Nainital district till the Lok Sabha elections are held in Haldwani subdivision. The police are on vigil to maintain law and order during the elections. "We have also taken action against 357 persons under various acts for disrupting peace while 110 arms have been surrendered," said Pankaj Bhatt, Additional SP, Nainital district.

Jaspur
11,474 new voters: Of 110,313 voters in the Jaspur Assembly seat in the Nainital Lok Sabha constituency, 11,474 are new and will vote for the first time. There were 98,839 voters in the seat in the Assembly elections in 2012. "The 11,474 voters reside in 101 villages and Jaspur town," said Chander Singh, a sub-division officer.

Rudrapur
Ringball championship: Seventeen teams have been invited to the second National Ringball National Championship to be held at Rudrapur from April 26 to 28. “The game — ringball — that originated in South Africa in 1907, was introduced in the country in 2011 when the first national championship was organised at Sirsa in Haryana,” said Kaushal Kishore Singh.