R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Fatehgarh Sahib
Fire destroys wheat: The wheat crop on 10 acres in Talania village was destroyed in fire today. It could not be ascertained how the fire broke out. Dera Mir Mian village resident Charmal Singh, who bore the brunt of the incident, claimed that he had called the fire brigade’s office in Sirhind, but no one came. He then informed the Mandi Gobindgarh fire brigade officials. The fire tender reached after an hour.

Youths loot Rs 2.05 lakh: Two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths looted Rs 2.05 lakh from the cash counter of a mobile shop in Mandi Gobindgarh today. The complainant, Jaswinder Singh of Amloh, said an unidentified person came to his shop and took away Rs 2.05 lakh from the drawer of the cash counter. Before he could raise his voice, the youth fled with his accomplice on a motorcycle.

Ludhiana
Demand raised: Members of the PAU Retirees Welfare Association stated that if the state government failed to clear their dues amounting to Rs 56 crore by April 25, they would be forced to oppose the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. They also demanded the payment of the remaining amount of the annual grant of Rs 20 crore.

Phagwara
Forum gets new chief: Dr S Mahindra, a physician, was unanimously elected president of the Physicians’ Forum during a meeting held here on Tuesday. Dr GP Singh was elected secretary of the forum.

Khanna contests EC claim @@Gurdaspur: Vinod Khanna, BJP candidate, has refuted the expenditure debited to his account in the shadow register maintained by the Election Commission's expenditure observer. On April 18, Khanna, a former three-time Gurdaspur MP, was issued a notice pertaining to "suppression" of poll expense. The Returning Officer had claimed that the film star had incurred an expenditure of Rs 30.24 lakh till April 14, but he had declared only Rs 5.14 lakh. Khanna has insisted that the difference amount of Rs 25.10 lakh should be waived. Returning Officer Abhinav Trikha said his team would decide on further action after studying Khanna's reply.— TNS

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kangra
Hans Raj is HPCC ST wing gen secy: Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sukvinder Singh Sukhu yesterday appointed Hans Raj Thakur general secretary of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) wing of the committee, HPCC spokesman Sanjay Singh Chauhan said.