The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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PUNJAB

Chandigarh
Sugar mills sign MoUs: Nine cooperative mills on Monday signed MoUs for setting up of co-generation plants and modernisation/upgrade of sugar mills on a BOOT basis. The MoUs were signed by chairmen of Ajnala, Batala, Bhogpur, Budhewal, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Morinda, Nakodar and Nawanshahr sugar mills and representatives of four companies, including M/S Spray Engg. devices Ltd, Mohali, M/S Saraya Industries Ltd, New Delhi, Purab Infrastructure Projects Ltd, Amritsar, and A2Z Infrastructure Private Ltd, Gurgaon, in the presence of Punjab Cooperation Minister Kanwaljit Singh.

GURDASPUR
FCI staff’s dharna on Jan 16: About 32,000 activists of various unions of employees working with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will stage a day-long dharna at its headquarters in Delhi on January 16 to press the authorities to accept their demands, apart from carrying out the wage revision of class III and IV employees. This was stated by Gian Chand Bansal, press secretary, FCI Executive Staff Union, in a press note issued here on Monday.

NABHA
Medical camp held: The Desh Bhagat Group, Patiala, organised a multi-speciality medical camp in Santoshi Mata Mandir of the town in the memory of freedom struggle martyrs on Monday. Dr SK Sonic, Dr Sarabjit Kaur and Dr RK Chopra examined 300 patients. Medicines and spectacles were given free of cost to the needy.

PATIALA
Special chance to students: To mark the tercentenary celebrations of Gurta Gaddi Diwas, Punjabi University, Patiala, has decided to give one-time special chance to the annual system students who could not appear in or clear their examinations. Now, the university has decided to give this chance to all semester system and one-year course students also. Giving this information, University Controller Examinations Dr Gurmel Singh said interested students could contact the University Examination Department till January 23.

SANGRUR
MoU for MBA course: The Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology (BGIET) here on Saturday signed an MoU with Washburn University, Kansas (US) for its two-year MBA course. Under the tie-up, MBA students of the institute will complete first year of the course at BGIET here and then go to Washburn University for the second year. A delegation of Washburn University, comprising president Dr Farley, dean Dr Horn Berger and director Baili, had visited BGIET to explore avenues of mutual cooperation in postgraduate management courses.

Girl, child die in road mishap: A 20-year-old girl from Mangwal villager and a three-year-old boy Babbu, son of Gursev Singh, died on the spot on the Sangrur-Patiala road near Jheor Majra village on Monday when the car in which they were travelling hit a roadside tree. Gursev, who was driving the car, sustained injuries in this road mishap. The police said it had registered a case on the complaint of the girl’s father against Gursev.

Tarn Taran
Youth booked for molesting girl: Daljit Singh of Kairon village, 16 km from here, has been booked for molesting a girl of the same village by forcibly entering her house. A case under sections 452 and 354, IPC, has been registered by the Patti police against the accused. The girl in her complaint alleged that the accused forcibly entered in her house when she was taking her bath and molested her. The accused has absconded.

Principal resumes charge: Dr Gurnam Kaur Bedi resumed the charge of principal of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Government College on Tuesday. The post had been lying vacant since November 1, 2008, after the retirement of then principal Mohinder Gandhi.

CHANDIGARH

Celebrated: The Traders Association, Sector 8-C, celebrated Lohri with gaiety and fervour on Tuesday. A councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) was the chief guest, Vivek Bhardwaj, general secretary, said.

HARYANA

GURGAON
Youth killed in accident: A youth was killed on the spot when the motorcycle he was riding on was reportedly hit by a canter near the Signature tower flyover here on Tuesday. The canter that was loaded with cement was on its way to Delhi from Jaipur. The police said the driver fled the spot after leaving the canter behind. A case has been registered.

HISAR
Open darbars: To redress consumer grievances, all deputy general managers (operation) of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) will organise open darbars at 64 places during the next two weeks in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat and Faridabad districts. A spokesman for the DHBVN on Tuesday said the darbars would start at 10 am in which grievances would be heard on first-come-first-serve basis. All types of complaints, including those of meter reading, correction of bill, change of meter, new connection, replacement of electric installations, system improvement and power supply, would be redressed on the spot.

KAITHAL
Water scheme for Kaithal: The state government has prepared a Rs 5,460 lakh scheme to supply 170 litres of water per capita to Kaithal town. This was stated by Haryana Power and Public Health Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala after laying the foundation stone of a water reservoir for a canal-based water supply scheme here on Monday. Surjewala said with the launch of the new scheme, the residents of this town would get more drinking water than even those living in Faridabad and Gurgaon. More than 80,000 persons would benefit under the scheme, he added.

Public meetings: Politics is a strong medium to serve the people but unfortunately some people find politics as means to earn money, which is not proper. This was stated by MP Naveen Jindal while addressing public meetings in Keorak and other villages of the district on Tuesday. He said as MP he got Rs 2 crore as development fund from the centre government but he spent crores of rupees every year from his own resources to provide help to the needy. He announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the construction of road leading to Government Primary School in the village.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
85 kg of contraband seized in Dec: The police arrested 13 persons and seized 85 kg of contraband during the last month, in response to its special drive against smuggling of such items, the Jammu SSP told mediapersons here on Tuesday. In December, the police also seized fake currency of Rs 52,000 and arrested two persons in this regard. The police also seized Rs 1.25 lakh meant for hawala transaction in the previous month.

Army medical camp: The Army on Tuesday organised a two-day medical camp at Sai Khurd village in RS Pura under Operation Sadbhavana. As many as 1,832 residents from adjoining villages like Sai Khurd, Nekowal, Arnia, Devigarh, Mulechak, Diwangarh and Rangpur Trewa availed medical facilities like minor surgeries, laboratory, eye, ENT, gynaecology and dental care on the first day. Lectures on healthcare and hygiene were delivered by army doctors on the occasion.

Srinagar
ANC to elect new chief: The Awami National Conference (ANC) has convened an extraordinary meeting of its working committee on Thursday to elect a new president following the death of its founder president and former Chief Minister GM Shah on January 6, a party spokesman said. The ANC, a breakaway group of the National Conference, was formed on July 2, 1984, after Shah toppled the government of his brother-in-law Farooq Abdullah. Shah was the president of the party till his death.

Protest against Israeli attacks: Students of Kashmir University boycotted classes and held protests against the Israeli "atrocities" in Gaza. KU students took out a march to express solidarity with Muslim victims in the war. Many of them held placards condemning Israel and photographs of the killed civilians, especially children. "All powerful states are silent while Israel is killing innocent people. We have to show to one and all that Muslims are one," Shabir Ahmad, a KU student, said. The authorities have kept away from these peaceful protests.