R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
Protest march: BJP workers assembled at the Gita Mandir here and took out a protest march to express resentment over the affidavit filed by the Congress-led UPA government in the Supreme Court challenging the existence of Ram and Ramayan on Saturday. They later burnt copies of the affidavit.

AMRITSAR
Sought: The MC has asked Gammon India Ltd, which is carrying out the Elevated Road Project, to provide proper service lanes within a month. At a meeting called by mayor Shawet Malik here on Wednesday, an effort was made to remove inter-departmental delays. 

BARNALA
Case solved: The police claimed to solved a murder mystery within 10 days by arresting two persons. Parmjeet Singh Garewal told reporters here on Saturday that Jiwan Singh and Surinder singh had been arrested for Darbara Singh’s murder. During interrogation, Jiwan Singh confessed his crime. 

FAZILKA
Heroin seized: The police arrested Lance Niak Sukhminder Singh, alias Sukhi, and recovered 890 gm of contraband heroin from his possession on Saturday. The army official has been posted in a regiment in Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The accused belongs to Pipria Karan police station in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pardesh. 

FEROZEPUR
Army man held: The police arrested an Armyman, currently posted at the Rajouri sector in Jammu and Kashmir, on the charge of drug peddling and recovered 890 gm heroin estimated to be worth Rs 90 lakh from his possession. The SSP said accused had been identified as a Lance Naik, resident of the Pilibhit district in UP.

Hoshiarpur
Jewellery shop burgled: The burglars broke into Hans Raj Jeweller shop at Bhangala (Mukerian) on Friday night and decamped with Rs 20,000 cash and gold and silver ornaments. According to the police, owner of the shop Rakesh Verma closed his shop at about 8.30 pm. On Saturday, when he came to the shop, he found that all the goods (empty jewellery boxes) were scattered and Rs 20,000 cash and gold and silver ornaments were missing. The burglars entered in the shop by breaking the grill of the room situated on the first storey.

Agents booked: Separate cases have been registered against the two fake travel agents for duping Rs 7.75 lakh from innocent persons in the name of sending them abroad. According to the police, Hardip Singh, son of Sukhdev Singh of Bhumipur Kalan, alleged that a so called travel agent Daljit Singh, son of Mukhtiar Singh of Miani (Tanda), took Rs 7.5 lakh for sending him to the United Kingdom. But he neither sent him abroad nor returned his money. In yet another case Mahilpur police booked Husan Lal, son of Harbhajan Singh of Thakrewal, for allegedly taking Rs 25,000 from Darshan Singh of Bham for sending son-in-law of the latter to Kuwait. But the travel agent did not send his son-in-law to Kuwait.

Kapurthala
Students protest: DIET Students Welfare Association and Elementary Teachers Union Punjab staged a dharna today outside the Punjab education minister Dr Upinderjeet Kaur’s house located on Sultanpur Lodhi road in favour of their demands. The members of the two unions gathered at local Shalamar Bagh and took out a procession under the leadership of DIET Association state chief Jagtar Singh.

Kharar
Sangat darshan held: General secretary of SAD (youth wing) and Kharar area party in-charge Jasjeet Singh Bunny announced a package of Rs 50 lakh during a sangat darshan on Saturday. The government officials, including Mohali SDM Raghbir Kaur Khera and Kharar SDM Rajiv Gupta, were present at the camp. Panchayats from 15 villages attended the camp. A cheque of Rs 25,000 and 10-quintal wheat was distributed among the Panchayats.

MANSA
Urged: The Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan on Saturday urged SSP, Mansa, to register an FIR against the accused involved in an attack on members of this organisation while they were holding a march at Khangarh village on Thursday. In a press note the DDVA spokesperson said the police failed to take action against the landlords who allegedly attacked the participants of the march.

SANGRUR
Surplus staff: The local Municipal Council (MC), on instructions from the state government, declared 15 employees, 10 clerks and five peons, as surplus on Saturday. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of the council, presided over by the council president Simrat Rana Punia.

Ahimsa Divas: In the light of Ahimsa Divas to be celebrated on September 16 by Jain followers, district magistrate V.K. Ohri has ordered the closure of all shops and rehris of meat and eggs in the district. Owners of hotels and dhabas have also been ordered not to cook meat and eggs on this day.

Farmers’ club: Residents of Mauran village have set up a farmers’ club. The Baba Ghuman Dass Farmers’ Club had been opened at Mauran village, about 15 km from here, in assistance with the Sangrur main branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and NABARD. Senior regional manager of PNB from Bathinda Ajit Jaitley inaugurated the club on Thursday. 

Protest flayed: The District Bar Association (DBA), Sangrur, at a meeting here condemned the attitude of those who had raised slogans against advocate Kiranjit Singh Sekhon and allegedly tried to damage his chamber on September 11 near the District Courts complex here. The DBA also asked the district administration to ensure Sekhon’s security.Several protesters on September 11 had protested against Sekhon, alleging his involvement in the murder of a 26-year-old Harjit Singh of the local Baguana basti on August 13.

PATIALA
Directorate of Ayush: Punjab Medical education and research minister Tikshan Sud inaugurated the newly formed Directorate of Ayush at the Government Ayurvedic College on Saturday. He said the creation of the directorate would provide an impetus to science of ayurveda in the state. He added that from now onwards, all ayurvedic colleges in the state would fall under the jurisdiction of this directorate. Elaborating, Sud said the department would be for the betterment of research of ayurveda and its further education. 

CHANDIGARH

Lok adalats: The Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA) will hold rural lok adalats at Dhauj village in Faridabad and Patvi and Lakhnaura villages in Ambala on September 16. Rural lok adalats will be organised at Nissing in Karnal district and Shergarh in Kaithal district on September 22. Lok adalats will also be held at Sonepat and Hisar on September 16 and 22, respectively.

Panchkula
Blood donation camp: A blood donation camp was organised by the chairman of Zila Parishad, Umesh Sood, at the Sector 10 janj ghar, on Saturday. The camp was held as a part of the celebrations to mark the birthday of the Haryana Chief Minister. The OSD to CM, DR K.V. Singh, inaugurated the camp while DC Rajinder Kataria was the guest of honour.

BJP district unit head: The BJP appointed Shamlal Sachdeva as the new president of the party’s district unit on Saturday. The post had fallen vacant after Ravinder Sehgal had put in his papers on the grounds that senior party workers in the district were not cooperating with him. Meanwhile, Sachdeva said his top priority would be to constitute the district unit in consultation with senior leaders shortly.

HARYANA

Ambala
Yatra for a cause: Gurdayal Singh Sheetal, resident of Sangrur, Punjab, is on a mission - to generate awareness among masses on various social issues. After undertaking a yatra as part of this endeavour, he arrived at GMN College in Ambala Cantonment on Friday. He said he would highlight the massage of saving ecology, preventing female foeticide and formation a just and safe society as part of his yatra.

Students win laurels: A poetry-recitation competition was organised at Dayanand Mahila Mahavidyalaya. Anamika of MDSD Girls College, Ambala City, won the first prize while Gifty of the same college won the consolation prize. The students recited their self-composed poems.

BHIWANI
Blood camp: The district Red Cross Society will organise a blood donation camp at Government College, Loharu, on September 18. About 200 donors have registered themselves for donation.

Workshop held: A workshop was held to mark the ‘Hindi Diwas’ under the joint efforts of Dr Reddy Foundation, Hyderabad, and Nehru Yuva Kendra, Bhiwani, at a local youth hostel on Friday. Bilal Ahemad, district coordinator of the foundation, presided over the workshop, which was held under the Rashtriya Hindi Pakhwada. He said Hindi was our mother tongue and we should give maximum time for its development. 

Mines’ auction: Auction for the plots situated at the mines of Pichopa Kalan, Kalali and Mehra will be held on September 18. An official spokesman said on Friday that the auction for plot ‘D’ of Pichopa Kalan mine which was mainly used for road construction and plot ‘A’ of Atela Kalan, Kalali and Mehra mines would be done in the north side of the mini secretariat on September 18.

KARNAL
Motorcycle rally: The Haryana wing of the All-India Vaish Federation (AIVF) will take out a motorcycle rally on September 18 to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. The main aim of the rally is to bring the Dalits and Other Backward Classes into the mainstream of the society. The rally will start from Chandigarh and conclude in Gurgaon on September 28. 

REWARI
Two held: The economic cell of the Rewari police has arrested Hari Om Sharma, owner-cum-driver of a truck and his partner Daharam Vir, residents of Sonepat district, on charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. The police seized 290 mustard bags, which had been fraudulently sold by the duo to a firm in Delhi.

Calves rescued: On a tip-off by an activist of the People for Animals, the Kasaula police intercepted three Canters on the Jaipur-Delhi highway at Banipur Chowk, near here, on Thursday and rescued 56 buffaloes and 74 calves being taken from various parts of Rajasthan to slaughterhouses in Delhi.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Inauguration: Himachal High Court Chief Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta inaugurated a Rs 3.62 crore three-storeyed judicial complex here in town on Saturday. He said the newly constructed judicial complexes throughout Himachal would help and encourage the judicial officers and advocates.

DHARAMSALA
Hindi day: Hindi day was celebrated by the Army School at Yol Cantonment on Friday. Principal A.K. Ambastha said the day was celebrated as a mark of respect to the national language. Various programmes like poetry doha recitation and essay writing were organised by the Hindi Department of the school. About 40 schools from Kangra district participated in various competitions.

HAMIRPUR
Judicial complex: A judicial complex was inaugurated on Saturday in Hamirpur district by the Chief justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court V.K. Gupta at Nadaun, while Justice S.S. Thakur inaugurated the judicial complex at Badsar. On his way to Nadaun Justice Gupta stopped at Hamirpur and inspected the construction work of the judicial complex. He also directed the authorities to complete the work soon. 

Lawyer’s death: Chief Justice V.K. Gupta has expressed his shock over the sudden death of a young lawyer of the High Court, Sandeep Kaushik, who died in a road accident on Saturday at Dharampur. Justice Gupta sent his heart-felt sympathies towards the family members of the deceased. 

Protest: Activist of the BJYM burnt copies of the affidavit filed by the Central government in the Supreme Court of India about the Setu Samudram project today at Gandhi Chowk. The activists assembled at the chowk, raised slogans against the government and later burnt copies of the affidavit.

KUMARHATTI
Survey: To seek the feasibility of opening a government college at Barotiwala, S.P. Sharma the principal of Solan Government PG College today visited the area. Following state government orders, Sharma interacted with a number of people and representatives of local panchayats to get their views. Sharma also met Lajja Ram the local sitting Congress MLA from Doon constituency.

NAHAN
Agitation: The ongoing agitation of Jeish Shoe Factory situated at Dhaulan Kuan on Friday got political support as BJP leader and Paonta MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhri visited the agitating workers camp in front of the factory and addressed them. Chaudhri extended his full support to the on going agitation of factory workers and announced that after coming in power the BJP would enact a law to completely ban engagement of factory workers through contractors which had been common practice. He said such a law was the need of the hour to stop exploitation of workers. 

SHIMLA
Conference: As many as 110 cardiologists from the tricity of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali along with their counterparts in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh attended the two-day cardiology conference organised at Shimla on Saturday. Eight super specialist doctors from Delhi, Pune and Chandigarh would deliver lectures on topics related to complex heart diseases and controversies in the field. This is the first of its kind conference in the region where the controversies in cardiology would be discussed, informed Dr Sudheer Saxena, organising secretary of the meet.