R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Villagers stage dharna: Hundreds of villagers staged a dharna on the Abohar-Sangria road on Wednesday. This resulted in a traffic jam on the Bazidpur Bhoma-Malarampura section of the interstate road for several hours. The protesters said new permit holder bus operators were not allowed to enter the bus stands and it caused inconvenience to commuters, including school-going children. They urged the authorities to streamline the system or they would block the state highway.

2 bodies recovered: The police found bodies of two women from Gang (Bikaner) canal at different points in Sriganganagar. The bodies had been tied up, indicating that the victims were killed and then thrown into the canal. Since the bodies were badly mutilated, it would be difficult to identify these, the police said.

Held for murder: Pala Ram and his brother Om Parkash have been arrested for allegedly killing Ami Chand (43), a small farmer, in Jhumianwali village on Monday night. Ami's neighbour Pala Ram, Pala's brother Om Parkash and nephew Aad Ram attacked him with lathis on the street. The three accused have been booked. Aad Ram is still at large.

Hoshiarpur
2 killed in mishaps: Two people died in separate mishaps in the district. In an accident near Mukerian, schoolteacher Sudesh Kumari was killed, when her scooter was hit by a bus on a national highway. She died on the way to the hospital. Bus driver Lakhvir Singh has been booked. In another mishap, Ram Kumar of Brarupur died when he was hit by a vehicle on Phagwara Road. Ram was on foot.

LUDHIANA
Tata Docomo launches unlimited data plans: Tata Docomo has announced irresistible range of unlimited data plans for its new and existing postpay customers across its entire Photon portfolio. The postpay subscribers can browse and enjoy unlimited plans on Photon - Photon Max WiFi, Photon Max and Photon Plus product categories - with plans priced at Rs 650, 750, Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,250 that offer 3GB, 5GB, 10GB and 20GB of data benefits, respectively.

Titan’s Jewellery division to withdraw schemes: Titan Company Limited’s (TCL) jewellery division has decided to withdraw all its jewellery purchase schemes, Golden Harvest and Swarna Nidhi purchase schemes under its brand Tanishq. The decision comes in the wake of the amendment to the Companies Act made in 2013, and which became law on 1 April, 2014, which appeared to bring these schemes under the definition of “public deposits”. Earlier, TCL was not clear if the new rules on deposit schemes were applicable for jewellery purchase schemes. It was finally clarified by the ministry that the rules were indeed applicable to the jewellery purchase schemes and such schemes were now being covered for safeguarding the interests of the public. This means that none of the current account holders would be able to wait for all installments to complete before making their purchase.

Muktsar
Booked for rape: Two residents of Kanianwali village have been booked for allegedly raping a woman on Sunday night. The victim alleged that her neighbour along with an unidentified man broke into her house and sexually assaulted her when her husband was away. A case has been registered against two persons.

Rs 2.5 lakh allegedly stolen: Two youths stole Rs 2.5 lakh from Nand Lal, president, Muktsar Sweeper Union, near Maseet Wala chowk on Wednesday. The cash was in a bag lying on Nand's bicycle, while he was inside a shop. The police launched a manhunt, but the accused are yet to be nabbed.

PATIALA
50 more MBBS seats: The Medical Council of India has given a go-ahead to increase 50 MBBS seats in Government Medical College, Patiala. The college has thus become the first medical college in Punjab to have 200 seats. With this, the total number of seats in the state has gone up to 1,070.

Phagwara
Bhola produced in court: The Phagwara police on Wednesday produced drug lord Jagdish Singh Bhola in a court in connection with the murder of ASI Gurdev Singh on April 1, 2012. He was brought to the court from the Nabha jail. The Judicial Magistrate, Phagwara, fixed the next hearing on July 23. Now Bhola would be produced before the District and Sessions Judge, Kapurthala, said Kapurthala SSP Dhanpreet Kaur.

Stations to have women cops: Two women constables each would be deputed at all five police stations of Phagwara subdivision to facilitate investigation into complaints by women. This was stated by Senior Superintendent of the Police, Kapurthala, Dhanpreet Kaur in Phagwara on Wednesday.

Sangrur
Student dies in accident: A student of Class XII at a private school in Gajjanmajra village near Malerkotla, Amarpal Singh (19), was killed while two other students sustained injuries when the motorcycle they were riding met with an accident near Khanpur village on Wednesday.

HARYANA

Jhajjar
2 held for killing father, son: The Bahadurgarh police have arrested two brothers, Krishan and Sri Kishan of Delhi- for killing a man and his young son in Issarheri village of this district three days ago. The accused were today produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody for two days. Raghuvir Singh (60) and his son, Kuldeep (33), were gunned down by the accused at their house in the village over a property dispute.

karnal
Foundation Day celebrated: The Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), was celebrated at the Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR) and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) separately on Wednesday. Indu Sharma, project director of the DWR, said it was an effort to bring farmers, industrialists, seed breeders on a platform for sharing their experiences.

The potholed Ateli-Bahrod road in Mahendragarh district.

kurukshetra
Three held with 84 kg drugs: The CIA-II staff arrested three persons on the charge of possessing nearly 84 kg “chura post” (opiate powder) from Shahabad. The accused have been identified as Hariom and Deepak of Mathura and Om Prakash of Tyoda village of Kurukshetra. The accused told the police the kingpin of the gang Mukesh Chand was from Mathura.

Mahendragarh
HJC leader slams state of road, threatens stir: Former MLA and HJC leader Naresh Yadav on Tuesday gave the government 10 days to improve the condition of the Ateli-Bahrod road or face an agitation. Charging Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with discriminating against south Haryana, he said most roads in Mahendragarh were in desperate need of repairs and resulted in many accidents during the rains.

rohtak
Farmer shot dead; youth murdered: Two motorcycle-borne youth shot dead Kuldeep Singh, a farmer, at Kalanaur township of the district early today. The deceased had gone to irrigate his fields. Police said a monetary dispute was said to be the reason for the crime. In another incident, Bhajan Lal of Bihar currently staying in Gandhi Nagar here was bludgeoned to death on the ITI road this morning.

Rohtak gets 4th varsity: Rohtak has got yet another university, the State University of Performing and Visual Arts. This is the fourth university to be established in Rohtak after MDU, Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences (UHS) and Baba Mastnath University. The new university has been formed by upgrading and assimilating the State Institute of Fine Arts, State Institute of Design, State Institute of Film and Television and State Institute of Urban Planning and Architecture.

Hooda Jr launches 10 projects: Congress Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda launched 10 projects worth Rs 40 crore in Kalanaur township of the district on Tuesday. These include a general hospital and government senior secondary school at Kalanaur and a community health centre at Kahnaur.

Sirsa
Cong, INLD misleading people on SYL: Kanda: Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda said both Congress and INLD had been misleading people on the SYL canal issue and none of the two parties were serious to resolve the issue.

Online pest-monitoring soon: An online system is being developed for the first time in the country to monitor pests infesting cotton crop and to issue advisories for the management of insects from senior scientists. Of the 26 districts selected for the project, the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management has earmarked Sirsa and Fatehabad.

Miscreants take away ATM: Miscreants took away a State Bank of India ATM from Ding Mor, 23 km from Sirsa town on Monday night. The ATM had over Rs 11 lakh in it. This is the second such case in 20 days in the district. The miscreants came around 3 am and took away the machine in their vehicle. No CCTV cameras were installed at the booth.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
Minor girl raped: A minor girl studying in Class III of Matli village in Chopal subdivision of Shimla district was allegedly raped by a mason on July 14. The accused, Gaglal, a resident of Gorangwa village in Sidhwali subdivision of Bihar, was working in Chopal for quite some time. A case of rape under Section 376, IPC, has been registered against the accused.

Mobile shop burgled: Goods worth Rs 1 lakh were stolen from a mobile shop in Ram Bazaar in the heart of the city. Shop owner Gagan Arora said when he came to the shop on Monday morning, he found its locks broken and ~30,000 and 10 mobile sets missing. A case of theft has been registered.

DEHRADUN

Dehradun
Power generation dips at THDC: The drastic decline in rainfall this year has severely impacted power generation at the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation. Due to the low level of water in the Tehri dam reservoir, the four turbines of Tehri hydro project are operational for five hours every day, generating 600 MW. The water level has reduced to 761 metres. Usually, by this time, the water level rises beyond the 790-metre mark.