R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Jagraon
1 arrested for fraud:The Jagraon police has arrested Shinder Pal Singh on a complaint lodged by Balwinder Singh. Balwinder had accused that Shinder had lured him and three others of sending to Japan in 2004 and took Rs 6 lakh from them. However, he failed to procure visa for them and also refused to refund the money. The complainant approached the SSP and after inquiry by EO wing and DSP (H) Ludhiana Rural Mukhtair Singh, the Jagraon police registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC against the accused.

Two labourers looted: Two labourers identified as Jaspal Singh and Sukhdev Singh were robbed off when they were returning home from their day’s work. Jaspal Singh in his statement to the Jagraon police said four veiled persons stopped them when they had reached near their village. They had beaten them and robbed off Rs 2,500 from them along with their mobile phones. SHO Jagraon Pritam Singh said the duo was heavily drunk last evening. He said they were admitted to the civil hospital, Jagraon. Sukhdev Singh who was serious and had not gained conscious till afternoon was referred to Ludhiana. The police has registered a case against the unidentified four robbers.

Mansa
Awareness camp held:An awareness camp against female foeticide was organised at village Khiala Kalan by the health department today.Deputy Commisioner Kumar Rahul presided over the camp. Sarpanches, panches, Anganwari workers and nurses participated. The DC said that creating awareness against female foeticide had become essential to eradicate the menace.

Raikot
Youth dies in accident: A youth was killed when a Tata 407 tempo hit a motor cycle yesterday evening. The victim identified as Robit Nayyar (19), was returning back home on his motor cycle (PB 13 B (T) 4345) when he was hit by a Tata 407 tempo (PB 19 C 2161) at Gondwal village. He was a student of class 10 at Halwara. His father was an airman at AD, Halwara. The Raikot police registered a case under Sections 304A, 279, 427 of the IPC against the driver.

HARYANA

Gurgaon
Gujjars hold maha panchayat: A maha panchayat of Gujjar farmers and labourers was organised under the leadership of senior leader of farmers Indraj Singh Tanwar in Gawal Pahari village near here today. More than 1,000 Gujjar farmers participated  in the maha panchayat. Senior farmers’ leader Advocate Khajan  Singh was the chief guest. He said the Congress would definitely win all 10 seats from Haryana because of the hard work of the Gandhi family.

Karnal
NCP to contest  3 LS seats:The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest three Lok Sabha seats from Haryana, fielding its candidates from the Karnal, Kurukshetra and Sonepat  constituencies. Disclosing this here today state general secretary of the NCP Om Prakash Bakshi said Chowdhary Ved Pal would be the NCP candidate from Karnal while the candidates for the other seats would be announced on February 6.

Rohtak
MDU extends date:Maharshi Dayanand University has extended the date of submission of examination forms for the next annual examination to January 30 with a late fee of Rs 500. According to the controller of examinations of the university, earlier, the last date for the submission of forms was December 19, 2008. However, it was decided to extend this date to January 30 keeping in view the problems of candidates. He added that no request would be entertained further in this context.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MANDI
Samiti protest: Protesters of the Mandi Medical College Sangharsh Samiti will stage a mass arrest protest in front of the DC office on January 27, as the state government remained unmoved by the protesters who have been on chain hunger strike since October 20. Convener of the samiti Sunder Lohia said the samiti was trying all means of constitutional protest in support of the demand, but it is unfortunate that the state government had turned deaf.

SHIMLA
Statehood Day: Governor Prabha Rao and Chief Minister PK Dhumal have felicitated the people of the state on the eve of 39th Statehood Day. Rau while wishing prosperity and peace to the people of the state hoped that the hill state would scale new heights in development. Dhumal in his message said Himachal had emerged as a model hill state in the country and topped in areas like health, education, environment protection and e-governance.

Disciplinary panel: The All-India Congress Committee on Saturday constituted the Disciplinary Committee of the HP Congress Committee with former minister Raj Kishan Gaur as its chairman. The other members of the committee include Prem Singh, Rakesh Kalia, both MLAs, AN Vidyarthi and Prof NK Singh as its member secretary.

Vashisht elected: AK Vashisht was on Saturday elected as chairman of Shimla Urban Cooperative Bank. Vashisht is a former general manager of the HP State Cooperative Bank. Divesh Sharma was elected vice-chairman.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
Training programme: A training programme on “Scientific cultivation of ornamental crops” was organised by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology-Jammu in Rattia village. The programme was organised under the supervision of Dr Anil Kumar Sharma, associate professor, agronomy, and 42 farmers participated in it. Each farmer was given 100 grams of seeds of marigold and gladiolus as incentives. Senior Research Fellow Veena Wazir gave details about the weed management by using different selective herbicides.

168 cement bags seized: Three persons were arrested and 168 bags of cement seized by the police in two different incidents in the Jammu region, sources here on Saturday said. “Based on specific information, a tractor trolley was intercepted at a nakka laid down by the police in the Kandi area of Rajouri district and 60 bags of cement were seized, which were being taken illegally from a GREF store,’’ police sources said. The police, however, arrested three persons identified as AK Choudhary, GREF worker, Mohd Ayub. Meanwhile, in another incident, Ashwani Kumar, a contractor, resident of Bishnah, was arrested, along with 108 bags of cement, which were smuggled from Bishnah tehsil, for the construction of his house, sources added. The accused, however, managed to escape. The police has registered a case and started hunt to nab the culprit.

SRINAGAR
One killed: A 27-year-old man died after falling into a stream in Gulmarg sector of Baramulla district on Saturday, a police spokesman said. Mohammad Qasim Kataria, a resident of Hawelli in Poonch district, fell down in Nallah Chungel between Lachi and Ganesh Post in Gulmarg sector and lost his life, the spokesman said. The police has registered a case and started investigation.