R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FAZILKA
Heroin worth Rs 8 cr seized: Jawans of the 20th Battalion of BSF recovered heroin worth Rs 8 crore near the Indo-Pak International border across the barbed wire fencing in the Fazilka sector. Official sources said during patrolling on Thursday evening, the jawans found the contraband in a pit. The officers of BSF are tightlipped on the matter. The DIG who was to brief a press conference, which was later called off, has reportedly left the headquarters. 

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
Office-bearers elected:The following have been elected the office-bearers of the District Bar Association, Fatehabad: president - Suba Singh Dandiwal; vice-president - Rameshwar Gajroia; secretary - Rajiv Godara; finance secretary - N S Malik; and joint secretary - Viney Sharma. 

JHAJJAR
Man gets life imprisonment: The court of additional district and sessions judge sentenced a murder accused, Rakesh, to life imprisonment on Friday. The accused, a resident of a Rohtak village, had reportedly killed his friend, Jai Kumar, a goldsmith, in October 2005. Kumar’s body was recovered from near an embankment in Dhaur village. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Panel for hydroelectric project: Taking into account resentment among people living in the environs of the proposed Hull hydroelectric projects in Jadera and Sillagharat area of Chamba district, deputy commissioner of Chamba Pushpendra Rajput has constituted a high-level committee to work out a viable strategy to protect the environment and safeguard the rights of the residents. The committee, headed by the DC, will interact with different organisations and various quarters of the society to reach a conclusion, ADM of Chamba Gopal Sharma said here on Friday 

Hamirpur
Govt partial, says BJP leader:Hamirpur district BJP general secretary Vinod Thakur has accused the administration of adopting double standards. While the administration had allowed Congressmen to burn effigies at Una, cases had been registered at Hamirpur against BJP activists for doing the same. He charged the returning officer of Hamirpur with acting in a partisan manner and the party would write to the Election Commission about this. 

Dogra elected president:The Fire Brigade Workers Federation has formed its state unit by electing Bhupinder Pal Dogra as its president. The federation highlighted its demand for restoring gazetted holidays, which were earlier given to them, and not to change the roster system of shifts adopted in 1980.

Poll arrangements reviewed: Himachal Pradesh chief election commissioner Manisha Nanda has reviewed the election arrangements for the Hamirpur bypolls. Deputy commissioner Hamirpur Rajneesh Kumar told Manisha that voters’ lists have been brought out on April 10 and these would be made available to all political parties. He added that 414 polling booths, 478 EVMs and other election material would be provided to assistant returning officers by May 7. 

KULLU
Rs 2,500 crore for roads: World Bank has sanctioned Rs 2,500 crore to the Himachal Pradesh Government for upgrading of roads. It has given 90 per cent of the amount as grant and 10 per cent as loan. This was stated by irrigation and public health minister Kaul Singh Thakur, here at a conference in the Circuit House on Thursday. He said the government had fixed target to metal 10,000 km roads and Rs135 crore had been earmarked in the state budget this year.

SOLAN
Effigies of Modi, Katara burnt: The District Congress Committee today burnt effigies of Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi and BJP MP Babubhai Katara for having brought disrepute to the nation by indulging in corrupt practices. The Congress men, comprising of general secretary Sanjay Awasthi, president Shanti Pundir Arvind Gupta, president district Mahila committee Subhdra Bhardwaj, Seva Dal state organising secretary Hari Mohan Sharma and activists of Youth Congress, took out a protest march in the town’s Mall Road and later burnt the effigies of the two BJP leaders. Sanjay Awasthi, while terming the deeds of the BJP leaders as shameful, said they had belied the hopes of the people who had elected them to power. While the Modi government had executed fake encounters, Katara was caught for human trafficking.