The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

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R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Mann asks Vedanti to summon Amarinder: Jathedar, Akal Takht, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti should summon Capt Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister, for his alleged extra-marital relations with Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam and punish him according to the Sikh tenets. This was stated by Simranjit Singh Mann, president, SAD (A), here on Thursday.

Folk fest: Presenting a tapestry of the rich folk tradition of the north, artistes from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab performed at the intra-regional cultural festival organised by the Northern Region Transmission System-II of the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited here on Thursday.

BARNALA
Rail crossing: As per the orders of the section engineer of Northern Railways, the railway crossing, gate number 22 B.92A on Bathinda–Sangrur road near the Police Lines of Barnala will remain closed from December 29 to December 31 between 5 am till 5 pm. This order has been passed due to routine repair work of the railway line. People have been advised to change the traffic route to 92 R&C. This was stated in a press release issued here on Friday.

BATHINDA
Killed: In a tractor trolley-motorcycle accident, 32-year old Vijay Paswan, a mechanic, was killed on the spot, at Siviyan road on Friday evening. Sources said that the deceased was on his motorcycle when all of a sudden, a tractor trolley hit his motorcycle killing him on the spot. The Sahara Jan Seva volunteers rushed the body to the civil hospital in Bathinda.

Traders protest: The Punjab Yuva Beopar Mandal (PYBM) has opposed the Punjab State Electricity Board’s (PSEB) decision to collect fresh security under the Electricity Supply Code from its customers, which included businessmen and households, from January. Ashok Garg, state president of the PYBM, said that the government had adopted an indifferent attitude towards the problem of the business community. Garg has requested the state president of the BJP, Rajendra Bhandari, and other BJP leaders to intervene into the matter in the best interests of the state’s business community.

Appeal: Around nine teachers were suspended for taking part in a protest on the call of the ‘Sikhiya Bachao Manch’, a press release of the Government Teachers Union of Punjab informed on Friday. The union condemned this as an anti-employee action. It claimed that those teachers were protesting in a peaceful manner. The manch also appealed to the Punjab government to withdraw its order regarding the suspension and take steps to redress the complaints of the affected teachers.

Appointed: The national president of the General Samaj Party (GSP) Suresh Kumar Goyal toured various cities and villages, and appointed presidents, vice-presidents and general secretaries in villages Deon, Bulade Wala, Jassibagwani, Nandgarh, Kotsheen Colony, Kalebander, Kotbakhtu, Jeewan Singh Wala, Kotphata, Kotbhara, Bangi ruldu, Bangi Nihal Singh,Bangi Deepa, Bangi Rughu and Manwala. Office-bearers in Mansa’s ward number 19 and ward number 12 have also been appointed. GSP organisational secretary Shamlal and Nachhatar Singh Baluana are playing an important role aong with the national president in this regard.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Nominated: Prof Achhru Singh, senior professor of English, has been nominated for ‘Linguist of the Year’ award by Inttranet, a multilingual portal for global network of professional interpreters and translators. Prof Achhru retired as head of the English department from Nehru Memorial Government College, Mansa, and is one of the 40 nominees selected from across the world for the award. The nominees for the awards were selected in consideration of the contributions made by them in the field of linguistics.

GURDASPUR
Community health centres: Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal claimed that the government has decided to open a community health centre for a population of 1,20,000 in the state to provide better health services in rural areas. Atwal was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a three-day health camp organised under the National Rural Health Mission for residents of Ghuman area here on Friday.

Hoshiarpur
Four booked for dowry: Police has booked Tarsem Singh, his mother Balvir Kaur, sister Rajwinder Kaur, all residents of Khadiala Sainian and Gurmit Kaur, wife of Mohinder Singh, a resident of Ajram under section 406/498-A of the IPC for allegedly harassing Rajwinder Kaur for dowry. The police has registered the case on the basis of a complaint by her father Darshan Singh, a resident of Devi Das village.

Drinking death: Heera Lal, alias Guddu, a resident of sector 3, Talwara, died due to excessive drinking at the bus stand here on Thursday evening. According to the police, Lal was a drunkard and had consumed excessive alcohol, which led to his death.

Celebration time: With the BJP emerging victorious in the Himachal Pradesh state assembly elections, local leaders and workers of the BJP under the leadership of medical education and research minister Tikshan Sud assembled at Jalandhar Road and distributed sweets here on Friday. They also raised slogans in favour of their party.

Mansa
Protest: The teachers here on Friday staged a demonstration against the suspension of nine teachers of Mohali by the DPI (secondary). They blocked the traffic at the Gurdwara Chowk and held a rally and raised slogans against the DPI. The teachers’ leaders challenged that if suspension orders of these teachers were not rejected, then a struggle would be started in Punjab. Hardev Singh Raipur, Atma Singh Pammar, Hardeep Singh, Charanjit Singh and Darshan Singh Dhillon addressed the rally.

Nawanshahr
Eye donation: The district eye donation society received eyes of Sunil Dutt (17) of Dharamkot village here on Friday. Sunil was killed in a road accident. The society president Dr J.D. Verma said the donated eyes have been sent to Punarjyot Eye Bank, Ludhiana, for transplantation. Salaries released Nawanshahr: The department has issued a letter to release salaries of 1,012 primary school teachers in the state, who had been demanding release of their salaries for the past seven months.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
Thefts: In separate incidents, residents of the district reported at least four vehicles thefts on Friday. According to the police, Kamaldeep Singh of Phase II informed the police that his Alto car was parked oustside his house and was stolen. Similarly, a Maruti car was stolen from outside his house some days back. A resident of Nayagaon reported to the police that his Hero Honda motorcycle was stolen. Pardeep Sharma, a resident of Phase VII, also complained to the police that his open jeep was stolen from oustide the Guru Ravidass Gurdwara.

HARYANA

Sonepat
1 held in land dispute case: Anurag Hans of Delhi was arrested on Friday in connection with the alleged cheating and fraud in the Rs 44 crore-land deal case here in Sonepat. He was held following an arrest warrant against him by a court directing the police to produce him by January 7, 2008. A dispute over the land deal in Rathdhanna village here is going on between two Congress MPs, Arvind Sharma (Karnal) and Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra).

Woman killed: A woman was run over by a train while crossing the railway track near Hindu Girls College here on Friday, the police said. The dead body still remains unidentified and unclaimed, the police said, adding that it has been sent for postmortem.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Surprise visit: Minister for roads and buildings Gulchain Singh Charak on Wednesday paid a surprise visit to the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation’s office at Panama Chowk. He inspected various wings of and found several officials absent from duty. He directed managing director Dalip Thussu to ask for an explanation from absentees.

Literary meeting: A literary-cum-poetic meet was organised by the Adbi Kunj, a multilingual literary organisation, at its literary centre here on Wednesday. A large number of people participated. It was presided over by social activist and chief organiser of Adbi Kunj Jaswant Singh. Tributes were paid to Hakeem Manzoor, an Urdu poet, on his second death anniversary.

Function: Students of Santosh Vidya Mandir on Wednesday celebrated their annual day function. The theme of the function was solid waste management. The World Wide Fund for Nature India sponsored it. Secretary, rural development department, M.S. Khan gave away prizes to students. Deputy mayor, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, and psychiatrist Jagdish Thappa also attended the function.

Two held: Two persons impersonating as government employees and extorting money from several job seekers have been arrested in Kathua district. On the complaint of several people of Malhar and Billawar areas that the duo was extorting money by promising to provide jobs, the police arrested Shah Nawaz and Mohammad Sharief.

Case registered: The police seized 27 bottles of country-made liquor and arrested two vendors in Kathua on Wednesday. The accused have been identified as Rakesh Kumar of Lachhipura Kathua and Surinder Kumar of Kishanpur Hirangara. A case under Section 48 A of the Excise Act has been registered at the Hiranagar police station.

RAJOURI
Blankets given: The Deputy Superintendent Memorial Trust, Kallar, organised a function on the 8th death anniversary of ex-Deputy SP Ghanishyam Sharma at Kallar on Wednesday. Ghanishyam had sacrificed his life while fighting militants on December 27, 1999, in Srinagar. Former MP Mirza Abdul Rasheed was the chief guest, whereas deputy inspector general, Rajouri-Poonch range, P.R. Manhas was also present. The widow of Ghanishyam Sharma, Kanchan Sharma, distributed blankets among 20 widows of the area.

Arms seized: The security forces busted a militant hideout and recovered arms and ammunition at Suyia Nala in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district yesterday. Police sources said on a tip-off the Special Operation Group of the police and troops of 37 Rashtriya Riffles raided a flour mill. They said during the search operation the security forces recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition.

Srinagar
Ex-militant shot dead: Unidentified assailants have shot dead former militant of Al-Badr outfit, Abdul Rashid Khan, in Handwara. The police believed that the militants, who were not happy with his surrender, carried out the act. Rashid (33), a resident of Karihama, after his surrender, took to tailoring as profession.

UDHAMPUR
Contest: Students of this town participated in greeting cards-making contest that was held at Happy Model School. The students displayed their talents and prepared attractive cards for New Year.

Liquor seized: The Basantgarh police on Thursday seized 30 litres of illicit liquor from two persons. According to reports, a police party led by SHO Arun Sharma conducted raid at Basantgarh and seized the liquor from the possession of Fambi and Ganga, both residents of Basantgarh.