R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
MC chief visits wards: Residents of New Suraj Nagari, considered as a posh area, complained to the Municipal Council president Shiv Raj Goyal that no sanitation worker had visited the street 1 to 4 for the last few years. They also complained of use of substandard material in the construction works, which were completed just a year back. Goyal immediately called the sanitary inspector and asked him to show the inefficient employees door if they fail in ensuring cleaning of the entire locality. He assured the residents that all the streets would be carpeted with bajri soon.

AMRITSAR
Sikh diaspora’s plea: A delegation of 36 Sikh organisations, based in Punjab as well as representing the worldwide diaspora, has formally asked India and Pakistan to avoid war. A press note here on Thursday said the delegation of leading UK-based Sikhs, including Manmohan Singh, vice-president of the Dal Khalsa, Amrik Singh Gill, president of the Sikh Federation (UK), Amrik Singh Sahota, president, Council of Khalistan, and Balbir Singh of the British Sikh Council, delivered a document listing their demands to the India and Pakistan high commissions in London.

IMA office-bearers: Dr Yash Sharma was elected president, Punjab chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), here on Sunday. The other office-bearers are vice-president- Dr A Mitra of Ludhiana; secretary general- Dr SS Narang of Bathinda; and secretary- Dr PS Bakshi.

Refresher course: Guru Nanak Dev University has rescheduled the commencement of three-week refresher course in commerce and business management from February 6 to 12. The refresher course to be conducted by its Academic Staff College would conclude on March 4.

Batala
Contest winner: Eleven-year-old Lakshay Kansra, student of Challengers Academy, Batala, stood first in state-level Challengers Abacus and Mental Arithmetic competition organised by Challengers Abacus Edu-Tech (India) Private Limited in its seventy centres across Punjab.

CHANDIGARH
IAS officer bereaved: Krishna Kumari, mother of Samir Kumar, IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, and Sudhir Verma, a renowned cardiologist of Patiala, died in Patiala on Sunday after a brief illness. She was 83. Her uthala will be held in Patiala on February 3.

Doraha
Poem recitation contest held: Green Grove Public School organised an inter-house poem recitation competition today. Students of different houses recited poems on different alluring topics such as “Pollution”, “Terrorism”, “Fashion”, “Importance of time or success”. Akansha of Nehru House and Rashmi and Ravinder Singh, both from Tilak House, bagged the first position. Chashandeep of Tilak House, Tanveer Kaur of Nehru House and Subhpreet of Gandhi House bagged the second position. The third position was secured by Sukhneer of Gandhi House, Navpreet Kaur and Aashna of Nehru House.

Jalandhar
Recruitment rally: The Army recruitment rally scheduled to be held at Patiala from February 5 to 8 has been postponed. According to an Army release here today, the rally was to be held for recruitment for the categories of soldier technical (Sikh Majhabi and Ramdasia and AIAC), soldier clerk\SKT, soldier (nursing assitant) and soldier general duty for Muslims. It is expected to be held at the end of March.

Kharar
2,500 poultry stolen: Around 2,500 poultry birds were stolen from a poultry farm in Chhaju Majra village. In his complaint to the police, owner of the poultry farm Jaini Lal Joshi stated that three men arrived at his poultry farm around midnight and forced their way inside the farm. Joshi’s employees tried to stop the accused, but the latter beat them up before locking them in a room. They allegedly loaded around 2,500 birds in a vehicle and stole them away. A case has been registered in this connection.

Ludhiana
Healthy baby contest: A healthy baby contest was organised by Homoeocare at the Basant Utsav celebrations in Bal Bharti School yesterday. More than hundred children up to the age of five years participated in the contest. Dr Mukhtinder from homoeocare clinic said the boys and girls participating in the contest were shortlisted under the parameters of their body weight according to their height, dental and oral hygiene. He also said the motive of the contest was to create awareness among people for timely check-up of the children.

Chawla is PCMA chief: The head of the Punjab School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr AS Chawla, has taken over as president of the Punjab Commerce and Management Association (PCMA). Dr Prem Kumar, president emeritus of the PCMA, welcomed Dr Chawla and presented a vote of thanks to outgoing president Dr Vijay Asdhir.

Mansa
Woollens distributed: The Ashra Lok Sewa Club, Mansa distributed woollen clothes and shoes among poor children at Tammkot. The club has been carrying out social services by organising blood donation camps and other activities and catering to the needs of commoners. Project chairman of the club, Tarsem Semi said that another camp would also be organised at Mansa on February 3. He said that the club would continue to do welfare works for the needy.

Pathankot
Money distributed: Punjab transport minister Master Mohan Lal distributed cheques worth Rs 60 lakh among 51 panchayats of this sub-division here today. He also organised a khula darbar in which 34 complaints were settled.

Sangrur
Leprosy patients: During the past 10 months as many as 22 leprosy patients have been detected in Sangrur district. During the financial year 2006-07 the number of detected leprosy patients in the district was 47, while in 2007-08 it was 39. Thus, 108 leprosy patients have been detected in two years and 10 months. According to district TB-cum-leprosy officer Dr Surinder Singla here on Friday, as per the data majority of the leprosy patients are from other states as during the first 10 months of the current financial year out of 22 leprosy patients only five are from the state.

CHANDIGARH

Five injured in brawl: A minor accident today resulted in a brawl in which as many as five persons sustained injuries at a petrol station in Zirakpur. According to the police, around 20 to 30 people from Hallomajra were moving towards to Dera Bassi for immersing an idol in Ghaggar. In the meantime, a Qualis driven by Avtar Singh, a resident of Zirakpur, came up for filling petrol. When the driver turned his vehicle, a tyre crushed a foot of one of the people. The matter turned into minor tussle between the driver and the group of the people. The police said the driver took out his kirpan (small sword) for his safety and injured five persons. The ASI called up both parties to the police station. The matter was resolved after a compromise was reached between both the parties.

HARYANA

ROHTAK
Office-bearers elected: Sajjan Khanagwal, Assistant District Attorney (ADA), has been elected general-secretary of the Haryana Attorney Welfare Association. The elections were held recently in Karnal. The state-level body represents the interests of the officials of the Attorney (Prosecution) Department across Haryana. These include Assistant, Deputy and District Attorneys posted in various district headquarters in the state. While Surender Bairagi, ADA posted in Panchkula, has been elected president of the body, Jagbir Sangwan, deputy district attorney, has been elected vice-president. Sandip Jain, DDA posted in Chandigarh, has been made the new treasurer of the association.

SIRSA
Eight arrested: The police arrested eight persons while they were taking cows and calves in two canters on Sunday. As many as 27 animals were freed from their custody. The accused — Hassan, Farheen, Mehboob, Raju, Khalid, Ershad, Jafarddin and Rashid — had brought the animals from Dabwali area. The arrested have been booked under the Cruelty towards Animals Act.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SUNDERNAGAR
Worker killed: A worker was killed on Monday as he was injured while working at the mixing plant of the 800 MW Kol Dam site situated on the border area of Mandi and Bilaspur districts. The deceased was identified as Tej Singh (26), a resident of Jamla. The deceased was working at the site when someone switched on the plant and he got entangled in the machinery. He was shifted to the Civil Hospital, Sundernagar, but was stated to be serious so was referred to the Mandi hospital, but he died on way. The police has registered a case into the matter.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Jammu
Youth arrested, jewellery recovered: The police today arrested a youth, who had allegedly stolen gold ornaments worth Rs 50,000 from the house of his landlord in Subhash Nagar here. The police said Kamal Sharma (20) had stolen a gold necklace, gold earrings and two gold bangles worth Rs 50,000 from the house of his landlord. A native of Rajouri, he had also stolen artificial ornaments and Rs 4200 in cash, said the police, adding that Rs 3,500 and stolen ornaments had been recovered from him. A case has been registered against the accused.

Death of 3 lawyers mourned: On the first day of reopening of the J&K High Court after winter vacation, A Full Court reference was held today to mourn the death of Tilak Raj Sharma, Mohinder Singh and Sanjeev Chauhan. Chief Justice Baran Ghosh described the death of three advocates as a great loss to the Bar members and litigants.Sunil Sethi, president of the Bar Association, Jammu, also mourned the deaths. The Full Court reference concluded with a two-minute silence.

11-day educational tour: The Rashtriya Rifles (RR) has organised a 11-day educational tour for children of far-flung and under-developed areas of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district. The RR, under the aegis of Romeo Force, flagged off the tour to Dehradun, Delhi and Agra at a function organised at Surankote in Poonch district on Sunday, a defence spokesman said. The spokesman said the aim of this tour was to make these children aware of the varied and rich heritage of the country.

15 hurt in mishap: At least 15 persons were injured, two of them critically, when a mini bus in which they were travelling met with an accident in Poonch district, police sources said here on Monday. The vehicle was on its way from Chatral to Mendhar when it skid off the road near Meer Sakhi Maidan Peer Baba and fell into a deep gorge, the sources said. The police rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to the hospital. The two critically injured passengers identified as Tariq Ahmed of Bhatti Dhar and Hashmat Ahmed Khan of Harni, Mendhar, were referred to the Government Medical College Hospital.

Taing is NC leader in council: Meanwhile, the NC has nominated Mohammad Yousuf Taing, an MLC, as its legislature party leader in the Legislative Council, an official spokesman said here today. “Mr Taing has been nominated as the leader of the National Conference Legislature Party in the Legislative Council,” the spokesman said.

SRINAGAR
3 houses gutted: Three houses were gutted in downtown Srinagar on Monday, official sources said. A fire broke out at the house of Javaid Ahmad Wani at Sheesgarhi Mohalla in Khanyar locality of downtown Srinagar and within no time spread to other adjacent houses. Firefighters rushed to the spot and put off the blaze. The three houses were completely damaged, however, the cause of fire was not known yet.

DEHRADUN

Two held with charas: The Uttarkashi police on Monday nabbed two persons, including a sadhu, and seized charas from them. In the first incident, the police arrested one Pushkar Singh, a resident of Bharkot village, and seized 1 kg of charas from his car. In another incident, a sadhu, Sangam Lal, was arrested with 100 gm charas. Cases under the NDPS Act have been registered.

Ex-servicemen want better deal: Demanding a better deal for ex-servicemen, the president of the PBOR Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association PTR Shamsher Singh Bisht said the government is yet to adopt one-rank one pension. Shamsher Singh Bisht said the government is adopting step motherly treatment despite the contributions made by the ex-servicemen. He said that one-rank-one pension is not being given to PBOR servicemen (ex-service below the rank of officers).