R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Muktsar
Banks to launch campaign: The District Banking Advisory Committee has claimed that above 99.3 per cent of families in Muktsar district have opened bank accounts. It further said that all banks in the district were launching a special campaign to convince the remaining families to open bank accounts by August 28. Deputy Commissioner Muktsar Jaskiran Singh said that 1,21,901 families of the total 1,22,837 rural families and 1,72,137 of the 1,73,233 urban families had so far opened bank accounts in the district.

Phagwara
De-addiction centres: Shortage of staff and other important infrastructure in drugs de-addiction centers will be provided by August 25. This was stated by Vikas Garg, Special Secretary, Health, here during his inspection of three such centres at Phagwara, Dasuya and Hoshiarpur. He said 50-bedded de-addiction centres would soon be set up at four medical colleges of the state, 
which included Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala.

Ropar
4 students hurt in mishap: Four college students were injured when their car was hit by a truck near Asron here on Friday. Ashutosh, Ankur, Gagandeep and Sumit were admitted to Ropar Civil Hospital. They are students of a private engineering college.

Samrala
Doctors suspend work: Government doctors of Samrala and Machiwara Civil Hospitals suspended their OPD work for two hours. They protested against the pressure of registering of a case against a doctor of the Civil Hospital, Samrala, in connection with the death of a youth, Sagar Kalyan, of Valmiki community on August 17.

The doctors said the youth was brought dead to the hospital. The SMO, Samrala, Narinder, said doctors have submitted a memorandum to the SDM, Samrala, and DSP, Samrala, respectively. The SMO said a team of Fact Finding Committee has sent a report to the higher authorities. 

HARYANA

Ambala
Scooterist killed in mishap: Gurubachan Singh (61), a resident of the Model Town area, was killed in a road accident at Kalka Chowk on the GT Road on Friday. His scooter was knocked down by a truck when he was going towards the Motor Market. The driver fled.

BKU to move HC against Centre: GThe Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU-Charuni group) will move the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Centre and state government to seek equal price for the early, mid and late varieties of sugarcane if purchased in February. Besides, the BKU demands that the state government purchase all crops on which it announces the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Chandigarh
Water charges waived: Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved the waiver of water charges and arrears of water dues for all consumers, including Scheduled Castes, in rural areas. However, the decision will not apply to water connections used for institutional and commercial purposes .

Jind
‘Harassed’, girl ends life: A 19-year-old girl committed suicide at her house near Ram Rai Gate here on Friday. Varsha, who was under training at a local beauty parlour, reportedly left a suicide note in which she blamed the establishment’s owner for harassing her. She said she was unable to bear the harassment and had decided to end her life. 

Rohtak
Gram sachivs get laptops: Additional Deputy Commissioner RC Bidhan has underlined the need for acquiring at least the basic knowledge of information technology. He was addressing a meeting of gram sachivs convened to distribute laptops among them under the aegis of the e-panchayat project of the Union Government here on Thursday. 

Notification on regularisation: The Haryana Government has decided to regularise the services of contract/ad hoc/work-charged/daily- wage Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees/workers. A spokesperson said a notification had been issued by the Chief Secretary. 

Sonepat
Kidnapped boy recovered: The police on Thursday recovered a boy, Deepak, of the local Sikka colony from the custody of Ankit of Pilakhua in Uttar Pradesh. Deepak was allegedly kidnapped by the accused on August 19.