IN brief

Martyrs’ Day on January 30
The Haryana government has decided to observe January 30 as Martyrs’ Day. The state government has directed all divisional commissioners,deputy commissioners and sub-divisional officers (Civil) to observe two minutes’ silence at 11 am on January 30 in memory of those who laid down their lives for the freedom of the country.

58.5 lakh MT annual milk production in Haryana
The annual milk production has reached 58.5 lakh metric tonnes (MT) in Haryana. The per capita per day milk availability in the state is 668 grams as against the national average of 252 grams.
A spokesman of the animal husbandry and dairying department said the government was focusing on providing better animal healthcare to the cattle breeders by opening new veterinary institutions.

Thieves strike at MLA’s showroom in Bathinda
Bathinda: Unidentified miscreants committed theft in tyre showrooms belonging to Joga MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdeep Singh Nakkai in Bathinda on Thursday. The thieves stole tyres worth Rs 1.7 lakh from his Rampura showroom and tryes worth Rs 5.5 lakh from another showroom that was inaugurated only on Wednesday,said the police. Nakkai said: “People will ask me that If I,who represent them,was not safe then how could I ensure their safety. Worse,there have been no recoveries by the police. I have taken up the matter with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and apprised him about the increasing cases of thefts in the area.” Bathinda SSP Ashish Chaudhry said efforts were on to trace the culprits.

SAD-BJP govt plans media blitzkrieg
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government is planning to launch a special campaign for public awareness about the policies,performance and “unprecedented achievements” of the last three years of the SAD-BJP alliance government. According to Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Harcharan Bains,the three years “saw initiatives which could not be even dreamt of only three years ago”. Bains chaired a meeting of senior officials of the Department of Information and Public Relations on Thursday to prepare a comprehensive plan for the awareness campaign. As per plans,the week-long campaign will witness laying of foundation stones and inaugurations of various prestigious development projects across the state.

R-Day: Health Minister to unfurl Tricolour in Mohali
MOHALI: Punjab Minister for Health and Family Welfare Laxmi Kanta Chawla will unfurl the National Flag and acknowledge the salute from contingents of the Punjab Police,traffic police,home guards and NCC at the district-level Republic Day function being held at Government College in Phase VI here on January 26. This would be fourth R-Day celebrations in Mohali after it attained district status in 2006. Chawla would honour several persons for their outstanding performance in different fields besides giving tricycles to disabled and sewing machines to poor widows. Students from different schools and colleges will present a cultural programme,for which rehearsals are on in full swing,Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh Mand said on Thursday. Mand,along with Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) Navjot Kaur and District Education Officer (Secondary) Niranjan Singh reviewed the preparations for the R-Day function.

One dead,2 injured in accident
AMBALA: One person died while two others were injured in a road accident near the Jandli bridge on NH-1,Ambala City,on Thursday. The deceased,identified as Mukesh,was travelling in a Tavera when it was hit by a truck. Kamal and Ajay were rushed to the hospital where they are recuperating.

Ranbaxy holds placement drive
MOHALI: Ranbaxy Laboratories selected several eligible candidates during a placement drive held at Doaba Group of Colleges near Kharar on Thursday. Thousands of students of BPharmacy and MBA from different colleges in the region were present. Those selected were offered an annual package of Rs 2.48 lakh. The placement process started with a pre-placement talk by senior HR manager who gave a detailed presentation on the job ethics adopted in the company along with the rights and duties of employees. This was followed by a written test,group discussion and interviews.

PGI professor completes rare series of laparoscopic surgeries
Bringing PGI on the world map in laparoscopic surgery,Dr Santosh Kumar,assistant professor at the Department of Urology,has found a place in the international ‘Journal of Laparoendoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques,USA’ for treating successfully nine cases of kidney obstruction through the technique. Dr Kumar said: “The world over,only 1 or 2 sporadic cases of such complicated surgeries have been reported; nine such successful surgeries are a rare series.” Significantly,in all the nine cases the kidneys were salvaged and are in functional condition. Under the conventional surgical methods,the kidneys would have been fully removed.

SAD-BJP govt plans media blitzkrieg
The Punjab government is planning to launch a special campaign for public awareness about the policies,performance and “unprecedented achievements” of the last three years of the SAD-BJP alliance government. According to Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Harcharan Bains,the three years “saw initiatives which could not be even dreamt of only three years ago”. Bains chaired a meeting of senior officials of the Department of Information and Public Relations on Thursday to prepare a comprehensive plan for the awareness campaign. As per plans,the week-long campaign will witness laying of foundation stones and inaugurations of various prestigious development projects across the state.

Mercury dips,flights remain grounded
The day temperature in the city on Thursday dipped by almost four degrees bringing it down to 11.5 degrees,which is 10 degrees below normal. A thick blanket of fog engulfed the city reducing visibility drastically. The minimum temperature was 5.1 degrees,which is one degree below normal. The met department has predicted the cold wave will continue in the coming days. Flight and train schedules,meanwhile,remained disrupted. No flights operated for the fourth consecutive day from the Chandigarh airport,while some train,including Shatabdi,were delayed by hours. The worst affected was the Howrah-Kalka Mail (2311) which was running late by 23 hours. This further resulted in delay in the train from Kalka (2312). The New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express (2011) arrived at the Chandigarh station three hours behind its scheduled arrival of 11.05 am. The Himalayan Queen running between New Delhi and Kalka arrived four hours late. This led to delay in the train coming from Kalka by three hours. Paschim Express was delayed by four hours while Sadhbhavna Express was delayed by three hours.  

Another youth injured in Mauli Jagran
A 16-year-old boy was seriously injured in Mauli Jagran when two youths allegedly assaulted him and fled with his wallet containing some cash,his jacket and shoes on Wednesday night. Mukeem, who worked at a barber shop at Harmilapnagar,was on his way home when he was attacked at Vikas Nagar and beaten up badly. The police have registered a case.

Policeman alleges assault on duty
Dalbir Singh of 13 Battalion Punjab Police alleged that he was assaulted and threatened by one Kulwant Singh of Kansal village when he was on duty at the rear side of the Vidhan Sabha towards Kansal on Tuesday. The police have registered a case under Sections 332,353,506 of the IPC at the Sector-3 police station.

Promotions in UT police
The Chandigarh Police has promoted Sub-Inspector Amanjot Singh (ORP) to inspector rank,Sub Inspector Barjinder Singh to Inspector (wireless/technician),Assistant Sub-Inspector Ramesh Kumar to Sub-Inspector (wireless section) and Constable Ramesh Kumar became head constable.

PU students protest new hostel rule
Seeking a rollback of the orders regarding vacating the hostel premises till the time the thesis is completed,MPhil students held a protest outside the office of the Vice-Chancellor at Panjab University on Thursday. The students claimed that the university postponed their exams last year from January to May which led to the delay in completing their thesis. Simranjit Singh Dhillon,president,PUSU,asserted that students would neither vacate the hostels nor will pay any extra charges.

Career prospects in Hindi discussed
The Department of Hindi,Government College,Sector 11,organised a talk on job opportunities in Hindi on Thursday. Talking about the prospective careers in Hindi,Dr Gurmeet Singh from Panjab University highlighted the various conventional and unconventional professions that college students could pursue after a graduation degree. Other than teaching,reporting,translating and script writing opportunities in Hindi,Dr Singh mentioned the upcoming fields of radio jockey and voice artistes as other career options. Naresh Kaushal,editor,Dainik Tribune,was the chief guest on the occasion.

Seminar on ill-effects of alcoholism held
A seminar-cum-workshop on alcoholism was held at Government College for Girls,Sector 11,on Thursday. During the seminar,principal Professor Achla Dogra highlighted the importance of spreading awareness among the students at the grassroots level and the society about the ill-effects of alcoholism. A team from Alcoholics Anonymous conducted the workshop. During the seminar,various movie clippings of celebrities sharing their experiences about how Alcoholics Anonymous helped them recover were screened.

Pharmacy meet held
MOHALI: Shaheed Udham Singh College of Pharmacy organised a seminar titled ‘Scope of Pharmacy,Biotechnology and Microbiology in the pharmaceutical industry’ on its campus in Tangori village on Thursday.