R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Batala
Bride beaten up by father-in-law: Ms Rajwant Kaur, daughter of Ms Amarjit Kaur and Mr Baldev Singh, was brutally beaten by her father-in-law, Mr Harbhajan Singh, a resident of Nabi Nagar here for non-fulfilment of dowry demand on Tuesday. She was admitted to Civil Hospital in a serious condition along with the wife of her husband’s brother who was also seriously injured. Ms Rajwant Kaur has appealed to the SSP, Deputy Commissioner, and the local MLA for justice.

Hoshiarpur
Case registered: On a complaint by Poonam, daughter of Mr Sarwan Ram of the local Pur Hiran locality, the Sadar police on Tuesday registered a case under Sections 494, 495 and 498-A of the IPC against her husband, Mr Kuldip Singh, mother-in-law Narinder Kaur, Mr Buta Singh, Mr Santokh Singh and Ms Mohinder Kaur, all residents of Mohalla Tibba Sahib. In her complaint she alleged that the accused were harassing and torturing her for more dowry.

Teachers hold protest march: Members of Unemployed ETT Teachers Union led by Mr Ajib Devedi, member, state executive, staged a protest march in the main bazars of the city here on Tuesday in support of their demands. They are demanding preparation of merit lists at the district level instead of village level before recruitment through panchayats and appointment through the Education Department. Later they went in a procession to the Mini Secretariat and submitted a charter of demands in the Deputy Commissioner's office.

JALANDHAR
Doctors to set up action panel: PCMS doctors and paramedic employees' organisations have decided to join hands to oppose the state government's move to hand over rural dispensaries to the private sector on contract basis. For the purpose, PCMS doctors and paramedics are planning to constitute a joint action committee. The proposed committee, according to Dr MS Randhawa and Dr MB Bali, patron and senior vice-president of the PSMS Association, would coordinate state-level protests to pressurise the state government to review its decision.

Dharna: The Joint Action Committee, Health and Family Welfare Department, staged a dharna outside the venue of the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s rally in Nakodar on Wednesday. The protesters condemned the government’s decision to bring government dispensaries of rural areas under panchayats and Municipal Councils on contract basis. Calling for the CM’s intervention in the matter, the members alleged that the step was against the masses as the health services could be badly affected because of it.

Move flayed: Various teachers’ unions have joined hands to protest against “privatisation” of the Education Department and the contractual recruitments being conducted by panchayats and zila parishads. Stating this in a press note, members of the unions, under the banner of the Anti-privatisation Teachers’ Morcha, said they would hold a rally on April 3 in front of the office of the DPI (elementary) in Chandigarh. They said they would also hold district level meetings in front of the DEO offices on April 10. Mr Harbhajan Singh Johal, convener, alleged that with the implementation of such policies, the promotion channels of the teachers would be blocked. Mr Kulwant Singh Gill, Joint Secretary of the Government Teachers’ Union, said a meeting of the union would be held on April 30 in Gurdaspur.

Muktsar
Muktsar police goes online: The Muktsar police has gone online and now all information relating to the status of complaints, arms licence verification and passport verification will be available at the click of the mouse. The SSP, Mr LK Yadav, on Tuesday launched the website of the district police - www.muktsarpoliceonline.com. He said people lodging complaints with the police would be given a number, which could be used to find out the status of their application. He said people who didn't have computers could also take advantage of the facility by calling police helpline on 100, 1098 and 263767. He said any useful information could also be sent to ssp@muktsarpoliceonline.com.

Phillaur
Fake ticket racket busted: A high-level team of railway officials has busted a racket in fake railway tickets, being sold by few railway employees at some railway stations.

HARYANA

Bhiwani
Section 144 in Bhiwani district: In order to conduct free and fair annual examinations of MDU, Rohtak, the Deputy Commissioner has promulgated orders under Section 144 within a radius of 200 metres of examination centres. The orders are effective from Wednesday. All photostat shops situated around the examination centres will remain closed on the day of the examinations. 

Rewari 
Two sentenced in theft case: Mr Baljeet Singh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, has sentenced Mubeen and Juber, both residents of Ferozepur Jhirka town of Mewat region, to two years' imprisonment in a motorcycle theft case.

Two killed in mishaps: Suresh Kumar, a security guard of Asahi India Safety Glass Ltd, was killed while his companion, Sanjay Sharma ,was seriously injured when their bicycle was hit by an unknown vehicle on the Delhi- Jaipur highway near the factory, about 12 km from here, on Monday. In another incident, a five-year- old girl, Priya, daughter of Mr Ved Prakash, was crushed to death by a speeding jeep on the Bawal-Jhabua road near Dhani Ahiran, about 16 km from here, on Sunday evening.

SONEPAT
Six awarded life imprisonment: Six members of a family of Mohana village have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Additional and District Sessions Judge after they were convicted for the murder of Pratap, a resident of the village. The deceased had reportedly molested the daughter and sister-in-law of Roop Chand which infuriated him leading to the murder.