The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
29 arrested: In a special campaign launched against gamblers and satta operators, the district police on Wednesday arrested 29 persons and recovered more than Rs 1.89 lakh from them after raiding various places. The police has also seized six vehicles from the accused.

BARNALA
Scholarship: Vakul Jindal, a student of local Baba Gandha Singh Public School, has got selected for a scholarship in the national talent search examination by securing the 21st position in the test. School principal S.J.S. Chahal said he was the only student who had been selected from Barnala district.

Arrest sought: As many as 30 sarpanches of various villages of Barnala district have demanded the arrest of all five accused who have been booked for demolishing the construction work of Government Elementary School, Patti Sekhwa.

BATHINDA
2 groups clash: Two groups clashed with each other in the local Civil Hospital. Only when more policemen reached the hospital, did they manage to disengage the clashing people and took five of them in custody.A case has been registered against them.

Addl charge: Chief administrator of the Bathinda Development Authority Kamal Kishor Yadav will hold the additional charge of the post of administrator, Bathinda Improvement Trust, according to a government press statement.

GURDASPUR
2 get life term: In a female foeticide case, two brothers of Dhira Jattan village, near Pathankot, have been awarded life imprisonment by District and Sessions Judge Gurdaspur S.K. Goel. The court has also slapped a fine of Rs 5, 000 each on both.The judge observed that Madan Lal and his brother Charanjit, who threw a newborn female baby in the Nalwa canal, deserved the punishment.

Hoshiarpur
Four travel agents booked: Police has registered two cases against four travel agents cases on the basis of a complaint by Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Parsowal. Kumar alleged that the four accused took Rs 1 lakh each from three persons for sending them abroad in June, 2005 and again took Rs 13 lakh from them in Delhi saying their visas had been obtained. After taking the money they deserted them saying they were going to arrange for their tickets.

Chain snatch bid: An unidentified woman attempted to snatch a gold chain from the neck of Tripta Devi, resident of Mansar, on Wednesday. Police said Tripta was waiting for a bus at Bhangala top when a woman tried to snatchher chain. Tripta fought back and thwarting the attempt.

Jalandhar
Raid rumour: The rumour of raid by the vigilance bureau (VB) on former DGP S.S. Virk’s house at Wadala village on the Nokodar road kept mediapersons on their toes this afternoon. Mediapersons reached the house of Virk, where his Kuldeep Singh Virk, but found the information to be a mere rumour.

MALERKOTLA
Bazam-e-Adab: Bazam-e-Adab of the Urdu Department of the local Government College organised a literary function in the campus here on Wednesday. Urdu scholar and poet of international repute Prof Muzaffar Hanfi was the chief guest.

NABHA
2 arrested: The CIA staff of the town has recovered 3,400 bottles of country made liquor from a mini-truck and arrested Manmohan Singh of Ludhiana and Satnam Singh of Amritsar under the Excise Act.

Patiala
ATM damaged in fire: The ATM of State Bank of Patiala, located on the Punjabi University campus, caught fire early morning on Wednesday. Chief manager of the the SBoP branch said the probable cause of fire was a short circuit. The amount of cash that was in the ATM could not be ascertained as it was equipped with an in-built locking system in the ATM.

300 examined at camp: The District Blindness Control Society organised an eye check-up and spectacles distribution camp at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nabha, here. Dr Usha Dhingra, civil surgeon, Patiala, presided over the camp. Students with poor vision were provided with spectacles free of cost. Around 300 students were examined by a team of doctors from the medical college. Dr Anil Pathak, secretary of the society, said some students couldn’t even see the blackboard due to poor vision.

Warden hurt in mishap: The warden of boys hostel, Government Medical College, Gurpreet Singh, received serious head injuries when branches of a neem tree snapped off and fell on him on Monday. The warden was initially treated at the intensive care unit of the college but was shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, in the evening after his condition became critical. The falling branches also hit two cars, a motor cycle and a scooter parked under it.

Office-bearers elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Patiala, for 2007-08: president - Dr D.S. Bhullar; general secretary - Dr Harjinder Singh; vice-president - Dr Karamjit Singh; joint secretary - Dr Kuldeep Singh; treasurer - Dr A.D. Aggarwal; and executive members - Dr Jaswinder Singh, Dr Amandeep Singh, Dr Gaurav Sharma, Dr Ashok Chanana, Dr Gurmanjit Mann, Dr Vishal Garg and Dr Varinder Singh.

Foundation day celebrated: The fourth foundation day of Patiala Kusht Ashram was celebrated in its premises here om Wednesday.Pran Sabharwal, director of the National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), who presided over this function, made an appeal to the people to help the leprosy patients. A cultural programme was also organised by the artistes of National Theatre Arts Society.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Memorandum: A large number of villagers led by panchayat president Joginder Pal Thakur and Mahila Mandal representatives of Bhandwad and Chandpur areas on Wednesday presented a memorandum to DC Rajender Singh urging him to ensure regular supply of drinking water in their area. They demanded that drinking water be supplied daily for fixed timings during morning and evening and the timings be publicised by putting notices. They warned to start an agitation if the problem of water shortage was not solved at the earliest.

HAMIRPUR
Press club: The Hamirpur press club thanked the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for giving Rs 50,000 to the family of a former Doordarshan journalist Hans Raj from the CM relief fund, who had expired some time back after long illness.

Judicial complex: The Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High court Justice V.K Gupta will inaugurate the judicial complex at Nadaun on September 15. This complex has been constructed at a cost of Rs 90 lakh. The complex at Badsar will also be inaugurated by Justice S.S Thakur on the same day.

Jatropha: DC R. Selvam said 1,59,800 Jatropha plants have been distributed in Hamirpur, Nadaun, Sujanpur, Bamsan, Bhoranj and Bijahdi blocks under the watershed development project. After holding the review meeting of the project he said 75 panchyats were selected for the project worth Rs 2,619 lakh and Rs 1,564.17 lakh had already been distributed.

Nahan
Total sanitation: Presiding over a school tournament at Galanaghat in this district Speaker G.R. Musafir disclosed that Rs 6 crore had been sanctioned for a total sanitation campaign. He asked students to actively participate in social awareness campaigns. He announced Rs 50,000 for the boundary wall of the Galanaghat school and Rs 50,000 for maintenance of the school ground.

Temple tourism: Reviewing the progress of schemes for tourism promotion in Sirmaur district additional chief secretary Avay Shukla disclosed that Rs 4 crore had been released for “Destination Sirmaur” aimed at boosting tourism in the district. Beautification work would be undertaken at different places.

NURPUR
Nominated: The state government on Wednesday appointed the following as pensioners of the District Grievances Committee, Kangra: President - P.S. Rana and general secretary - Sardari lal Gupta.