R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATALA
Youth festival: The youth festival organised by Baring Union Christian College concluded here on Friday. The function was presided over by Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur. He gave away an ex-gratia grant of Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary quota for the development of an open air theatre of the college.

PATIALA
Girl Child Awareness Day celebrated: Lions Club, Patiala Fort, celebrated Girl-Child Awareness Day at Government Girls High School, Anardana Chowk, Patiala, on Saturday. Mr Vijay Kumar Goyal, President of the club and Honorary Vice-President of the Red Cross Society, presided over the function. He stressed that efforts should be made to make the girl-child aware about her right. Mr K.R. Verma, District Training, Supervisor, Red Cross, Prof J.K. Miglani from Modi College, Ms Suman Sood, Head of the school and Ms Ravinder Sidhu from St John spoke on the occasion. As many as 65 needy girls were given dresses and awards.

Welfare committee office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Tej Bagh Welfare Committee: President — Mr Amarjit Singh Giran; Vice-President — Mr V.M. Sood; General Secretary — Mr Dinesh Batish; Joint Secretary — Mr Nischal Aggarwal; and Treasurer — Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta.

Writer for children honoured: Darshan Singh Aasht, a writer for children, working at Punjabi University, has been honoured by Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra. Mr Mansoor Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor of the university, honoured Aasht for his contribution in the field of children’s literature.

PHAGWARA
Theft: As many as 12 burglars, allegedly in police uniform, barged into two houses, including that of a college lecturer, at Manawali village on Friday and escaped with valuables worth thousands of rupees. A case has been registered.

HOSHIARPUR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Clinical Laboratories Association: president — Dr Balkar Singh, senior vice-president — Mr R.C. Datta; vice-president — Mr Wattan Singh; and treasurer — Mr Manmohan Singh.

Sentenced: Mr L.R. Roojam, District and Sessions Judge, has sentenced Gurdip Singh, a resident of Susan village to life imprisonment under Section 302, IPC, for allegedly killing Sarabjit Kaur, wife of Satnam Singh of Dadupur Garoa village. The accused had allegedly doused Sarabjit Kaur with kerosene before setting her on fire on July 14, 1998.

Seminar inaugurated: A seminar on "Legal Services" was held at a zila parishad hall, here on Saturday. Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, executive chairman, Punjab Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, inaugurated the seminar. A Lok Adalat was also held at the the Sessions Court complex and as many as 204 cases were taken up for hearing out of which 137 were solved.

MOGA
Killed: Bahal Singh of Uttar Pradesh was crushed to death and his companion suffered a leg fracture when a jeep belonging to a resident of Alamwala village in this district hit them on the Baghapurana — Mudki road near here on Saturday. A case has been registered and the body sent for the post-mortem examination.

NAWANSHAHAR
Lok Adalat: The District Legal Services Authority organised a Lok Adalat at Judicial Courts complex here on Saturday. As many as 59 cases came up for hearing out of which 18 were settled. Compensation worth Rs 7.70 lakh was given to motor accident victims.

ROPAR
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Youth Akali Dal: senior vice-presidents — Mr Amarjot Singh, Mr Gurmeet Singh, and Mr Inderjit Singh; secretary general — Mr Sarbpal Singh Bobby; and treasurer — Mr Baljinder Deep Singh Khurana.

Shoe merchants: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shoe Merchants Association: president — Mr Kulwant Rai Walia; vice-president — Mr Charanjit Ahuja; general secretary — Mr Bhagat Singh Jaggi; and treasurer — Mr Darshan Lal Kapoor.

CHANDIGARH

Lens implant campaign organised: The free intra-ocular lens implant campaign was organised by the UT Health Department from January 31 to February 4. Sixty lenses were implanted to poor patients. About 500 patients were examined at two eye camps at Dadu Majra Colony and Behlana village on January 29 and February 3, respectively. Selected patients were operated for IOL surgery at General Hospital, Sector 16. A free eye camp was held at Dhanas village on January 31 and selected patients were operated upon at the hospital. The expenditure was borne by the District Blindness Control Society, Chandigarh.

SAS NAGAR
Students burn effigy: Students of the Institute of Postgraduate Homoeopathic Medical Education and Research burnt the effigy of the Director of the institute on Saturday to protest against the indifferent attitude of the management of the college in redressing their demands. The students have threatened to protest at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the institute at Chunni Kalan by a Union Cabinet Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

HARYANA

FARIDABAD
Observers appointed: The Election Commission has appointed three observers for the six Assembly constituencies of the district, according to Mr Anand Mohan Saran, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer. They are Mr P.C. Mishra, Mr V. Somasundaram, and Mr A.G. Risbad.

SONEPAT
Photo I-cards: The district which consists of six Assembly constituencies namely Baroda (R), Gohana, Kailana, Sonepat, Rai and Rohat, has achieved 85.50 per cent target of photo identity cards so far. Giving this information, Mr Ashok Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner, told mediapersons here on Sunday that more than 5.99 lakh out of total 7.95 lakh voters of the district had got themselves photographed and the remaining electorate have been asked to extend their support to the district administration.

Traffic held up: Traffic movement on the inter-state route between the Sonepat-Baghpat road came to a halt for more than three hours on Saturday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Ban imposed: The District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jagdish Chander Sharma, has imposed a ban on carrying of arms near the Kot Kehloor police station area, from February 7 to 10 with a view to maintain peace during "Basant panchmi mela" at the Sikh shrine of "Guru ka Lahore", 85 km from here, near Naina Devi. A notification in this regard was issued here on Saturday.

Khair sale: The district unit of the Himachal Kisan Sabha has criticised the state's government policy regarding the sale and purchase of "khair". The meeting was presided over by the district president, Mr Baburam Thakur. Farmers' leaders from Kot Dhar and the local units said here on Saturday that the ban on export of "khair" had forced them to sell the woods to government contractors and industrialists at one-forth of the market price.

Photostat machine: Mr Hoshiyar Singh Thakur, vice-president of the state Youth Congress, has complained that a photostat machine kept in the Deputy Commissioner’s office has become non-functional. He urged to get a new machine installed so that people are not made to pay through their nose.

Cattle census: The residents of Barthin gram panchayat, 40 km from here protested against the government order to get the census of cattle and agricultural implements conducted. They have lodged their complaint with the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mr Ram Lal Markandiya.

NURPUR
Training camp: The Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Department organised a training camp for farmers at Suliali near here on Friday. As many as 50 farmers and fruit growers from the local gram panchayats participated in the camp.