R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Ludhiana
Arya Samaj founder remembered: BCM Arya Senior Model School, Shastri Nagar, celebrated the 185th birth anniversary of the founder of the Arya Samaj, Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, in the assembly today. Students and staff members paid tribute to the founder in the form of speeches, hymns and poems with great enthusiasm. The students also explained 10 golden rules of the Arya Samaj.

Mandi Ahmedgarh
60 donate blood: Sixty workers of Shryans Industries, Malikpur, donated blood today as a tribute to their former chairman DK Oswal on his second death anniversary. The camp was organised in the administrative block of the industrial group. A medical check-up camp was also organised jointly by Hind Hospital and the health authorities. A team of doctors, led by Dr Rajesh Goyal and Dr Sunit Hind, examined over 400 persons, including the workers and their families.

RAJPURA
Three gamblers held: The Rajpura police arrested three gamblers from different localities of the city on Thursday. The accused have been identified as Hari Om, Ranjan Kumar and another unidentified resident of Rajpura. They were arrested from Sirhind railway crossings and Rajpura town. The CIA staff of the Rajpura police arrested all of them and produced them before the magistrate. The police has registered cases against the accused.

Theft: Two servants working in a factory fled away with Rs 1 lakh cash on Friday. In his complaint to the police, Jagdeep Singh, owner of a factory in Badoli village, said the servants, Ram Chand and Sadesh Kumar, both residents of Bihar, fled away with the cash. A case in this connection has been registered against the accused.

Tarn Taran
Kisan leaders elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the state unit of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Punjab: president - Satnam Singh Pannu; general secretary - Balraj Singh Bhail; senior vice-president - Sawinder Singh Chutala; treasurer - Gurlal Singh; and press secretary - Harjit Singh Noordi.

Lepers given aid: The Red Cross Society donated 50 blankets, eight walking sets and two tricycles to the lepers in a function organised here on Friday. Deputy commissioner Khushi Ram presided over the function. The DC appealed to the donors to donate liberally to the Red Cross Society which was always ready to help the needy.

CHANDIGARH

MOHALI
2,000 CDs seized: Around 2,000 pirated compact disks (CDs) were seized during a surprise raid conducted in the district as part of the state-level exercise carried out on Thursday. According to the information, the CDs were seized under different police stations.

HARYANA

SIRSA
Shop looted: Some miscreants reportedly looted a liquor vend situated on the local Barnala road and decamped with liquor bottles worth Rs 1.25 lakh on Wednesday night. The police has registered a case on the complaint of the owner, Sandeep Kumar, and begun investigations. The vendor told the police that he had locked his vend at about 11.30 pm on Wednesday.

Couple injured: A couple received serious burn injuries in the Chattargarh Patti area of the town here on Wednesday. Khushboo caught fire while preparing food. She received 80 per cent burn injuries while her husband who tried to extinguish the fire also received burn injuries. Neighbours immediately rushed them to a hospital.

SONEPAT
Youths killed in mishap: Two youths of Delhi identified as Ankit Singhal of Ashok Nagar and Nikhil Goyal of Rajinder Nagar died on the spot when the car they were travelling in reportedly hit a canter parked on the GT Road, near Murthal, on Wednesday night. They were immediately taken to the Civil Hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead.

Woman burnt alive: Bishu, a housewife, was burnt alive and her husband Ganesh and four-and-a-half-month-old daughter Debi were seriously burnt when a fire reportedly broke out in their house in local Dev Nagar on Wednesday night. The incident reportedly took place when Bishu was cooking dinner. The victims were taken to a hospital where Bishu was declared brought dead and Ganesh and Debi were referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Girl dies of dog bite: Shivani (11), daughter of Prithvi Chand of Kallari village, near here, died on Thursday consequent to bite of a rabid dog. A rabid dog bit the girl about two months ago while she was going to school. She was not administered anti-rabies injections. Her condition deteriorated when she developed signs of hydrophobia. She was first rushed to hospital at Ghumarwin from where she was referred to Regional Hospital, Bilaspur, and then to PGI, Chandigarh. However, she breathed her last on way to the PGI.

Camp to end copying: Both parents and teachers have to collaborate and coordinate their efforts to ensure to end the menace of copying in the examinations. This was stated by the Himachal Pradesh State School Education Board chairman Chaman Lal Gupta while presiding over a one-day “copying eradication camp” organised at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School here on Thursday. He said nothing was more dangerous for students’ career than copying and this habit had the potential of destroying the future of students.

Fire destroys records: Entire school records, including roll numbers of class X and class XII students, chairs, tables etc are said to have been reduced to ashes when a devastating fire suddenly engulfed the principal room and office of the Government Senior Secondary School, Gwal Muthani, in Nanawan gram panchayat, near here, on Thursday night. The villagers informed the principal and the police about the blaze, but nothing could be saved from the fire, which is said to have flared up due to a short circuit.

CHAMBA
Cleanliness drive: A cleanliness drive launched in the regional hospital here has lent it a new lease of life. Cubicles have been created in the OPD and the building whitewashed. Medical superintendent of the regional hospital Rakesh Verma said a unique ‘intensive care ward’ had been made operational. It was equipped with requisite apparatus and machinery for handling emergency cases, especially heart patients. The unit had been established under the aegis of the ‘rogi kalyan samiti’ of the hospital with assistance from a US-based NGO named YMAD (Young Make A Difference), said Verma, who was also the member secretary of the samiti.

HAMIRPUR
Stir against cheating: CL Gupta, chairman of the Himachal Pradesh State Board of School Education, has said a special campaign is being launched to put a check on the use of cheating in examinations throughout the state for board examination beginning on March 3. While talking to mediapersons on Wednesday he said to hold the coming board examinations in fair manner the board had launched a campaign and we were holding conferences at many places. He said, through these conferences we were trying to reach students, parents, teachers and elected representatives about the pitfalls of the use of unfair means in the examinations and creating a public opinion against this social menace.

NURPUR
Welfare board: The Himachal Pradesh Unemployed Trained Teachers Association has underlined the need to set up unemployed welfare board in the state. Sushil Kaushal and Anil Thakur, president and general secretary of the association, respectively, on Thursday urged the Chief Minister to consider the proposal seriously as it would function like a bridge between jobless youth and the industry. They said the association was submitting a detailed proposal in that regard. They have suggested that all employment exchanges should be connected with the board and industrial units in the state should provide lists of vacant posts to it.

PALAMPUR
Assn threatens action: The Himachal Road Transport Employees Association has threatened to resort to direct action if the management failed to amend its anti-employees policies. In its meeting held here on Thursday. The association held the management responsible for the corruption prevailing in the HRTC. President of the association Jasmer Rana said hiring of buses on contract was blunder on part of the HRTC as it had caused loss to the corporation in crores in the past five years.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Plea to boost NGOs: A delegation of Gandhian workers led by SP Verma called on Prema Cariappa, chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), on Friday and urged her to encourage local NGOs in the state. It also urged her to bring such NGOs under the umbrella of all welfare schemes and programmes of CSWB. Verma said as the state had remained under turmoil for 20 years, the poor were in dire need of a soothing touch. Cariappa also visited border areas to have a feel of the problems there.

Anganwari workers: The CPM has appealed to the government to enhance the monthly honorarium of anganwari workers and helpers as in other states. State CPM secretary and Kulgam MLA MY Tarigami also demanded implementation of the Cabinet order passed in July, 2008, that supported regularisation of ad hoc and contractual employees.

Seminar held: Gen Zorawar Singh Chair of Excellence, Department of Strategic and Regional Studies (DSRS), University of Jammu, organised a presentation-cum-discussion on “Relevance of undivided J&K to security and peace in the region” at Gen Zorawar Singh auditorium here on Thursday. Vice-Chancellor Varun Sahni chaired the seminar while Brig K. Kuldip Singh (retd.) gave a detailed presentation on the subject. The function was attended by a large number of army personnel, varsity faculty and students. Later, an open house was held in which Prof Sahni, Kuldeep Singh and the Director in Charge of the DSRS, answered the queries of participants.