R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Folklore museum: Guru Nanak Dev University plans to set up a Punjabi folklore museum. This was stated by Dr H.S. Soch, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University. Mr Soch said such a museum would bring about a cultural awakening among the students and the public.

Teachers boycott: The Medical and Dental Teachers' Association boycotted teaching work here on Thursday in support of their demands to release arrears of salaries with effect from January 1,1996. Although pay scales were notified and increased the non-payment of arrears led to the strike.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Computerisation: Government departments work should be simplified and made transparent. This was stated by Mr V.K. Janjua, Deputy Commissioner, while addressing a public 'darbar' at Himatgarh village of the district. Printed 'zamabandis' have been distributed for the first time in the district. All registries in the district will go 'on line' where computers will print the photos of buyers and sellers on stamp papers.

MOGA
Dilapidated roads: Although the Punjab Agriculture Minister, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, had assured to carry out the repair work of the main and link roads of the state. these have neither been repaired nor any steps taken to do so, even after one year. Almost all roads in the rural areas are in a dilapidated condition and transporters are the main sufferers.

PHAGWARA
Counterfeit notes: The local police has arrested Bajwar Singh and recovered counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 11,300 from him. Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP, Kapurthala, said here on Thursday that Bajwar Singh was nabbed from Basgirpura, Jalandhar, following a tip-off from Sukhwinder Ram, a resident of Rampur Sunra village.

CHANDIGARH

Science Olympiad: Results of Science Olympiad-1999 for students of classes 9 and 10 were declared at Friday. More than 5,000 students from different states participated in the Trio Olympiad, conducted by The Educationist, a voluntary educational society, on December 26. The first three winners who will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 1,500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, respectively, are Atul Bansal of K.L. Arya DAV Public School, Hisar, Jajal Garg of Manavsthali School, Delhi, and Ashish of Shri Mahavir Jain Model School, Phagwara. Toppers in each class will be given free subject books for the next class.

Plea against cops: Mr Jasbir Ralhan of Sector 16 on Friday urged the Inspector-General of Police (Crime), Punjab, to register a case against those policemen who had hijacked his truck. In his letter, he stated that on February 5, his truck (No HP-17-5716), carrying their product of LSP, was despatched from Relhan Minerals at Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh to Khanna in Ludhiana district. The policemen took the truck to Chak Shere Wala, about 10 to 15 km away from Muktsar, for transporting sugarcane to Harjot Singh Brar, he added.

Office-bearers: Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, Chairman of the Central Coordination Committee of All Gurudwaras and Sikh Institutions has nominated the following office-bearers: Senior Vice-Chairman — Maj N.S. Rangi (retd); Vice-Chairman — Mr Karam Singh and Mr Jaspal Singh; Secretary General — Mr Shamsher Singh Rana; Secretaries — Mr Nirbhai Singh and Mr Karminder Singh Gill; Treasurer — Mr R.P.S. Lamba; Propaganda Secretary — Mr Major Singh; and Storekeeper — Mr Jasdev Singh.

Computer quiz: An inter-college computer quiz for Bachelor of Computer Application students was organised by Government College, Sector 46, on Friday. Rupreet, Sonali and Ankur from GGS College won the contest. Hardeep, Akshay and Divesh of the host college were second and third place went to Shivani, Tanveer and Shalini from GGS College for Women. A running trophy was donated by a computer training institute. Presiding over the function, Principal of the college, Major D.P. Singh, lauded the enthusiastic participation by the students and gave away the prizes.

AIDS awareness campaign: The State Executive Co-ordination Committee of the State Institute of Education, Chandigarh Administration, will launch a campaign to make the people of the city aware about AIDS. This decision was taken in a meeting of population and development cell, on Friday. The meeting was presided over by Dr H.S. Sharma, Director, State Institute of Education.

SAS NAGAR
Honoured: A Union Cabinet Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and Mr Ranjit Singh Balian, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Punjab, were honoured by a local Chinese acupuncture and homoeopathic centre at a function organised in PCA Complex on Thursday. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, and other senior officials of Punjab were also present. Dr Gurnam Singh Brar and Prof Tajinder Singh Brar spoke on the occasion.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Cong convener : Mr Dharam Pal Kalia was on Friday appointed Convener of the Haryana Congress teacher cell by the HPCC chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Mr Kalia had filed his nomination papers from Ambala constituency. Later he withdrew in favour of the official candidate of the party, Ms Kiran Bala Jain.

Support extended: The Social Worker Sabha announced its support to the Congress candidate, Ms Kiran Bala Jain, on Friday. A meeting in this regard was organised by the sabha in Baldev Nagar under the chairmanship of Mr Jag Mohan Bakhshi.

KAITHAL
Resentment: Resentment prevails among residents of Model Town Colony, situated between the Ambala and Dhand road, against the worsening condition of the civic amenities here. According to residents, roads dug up by the Public Health Department to lay sewer lines have not been repaired and slush gets accumulated. The absence of streetlights has also worsened the situation.

SIRSA
Smugglers held: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr A.K. Bimal, sentenced two poppy husk smugglers hailing from Rajasthan to 10 year's imprisonment and fined each of them Rs 1 lakh. According to the police, Shajpat of Sadul Shaher, Sriganganagar in Rajasthan, and Raj Kumar of Kodia Wati, Sriganganagar were nabbed by the Kalanwali police for carrying 80 kg of poppy husk in their vehicle. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against them.

SONEPAT
Power failure: Residents of Kalan Mohalla remained without power for seven hours on Thursday following a major breakdown due to fault in the transformer installed near Shiv Mandir and Chhotti Masjid.

Jeep snatched: Five armed persons snatched a jeep from its driver on the Sonepat-Rohtak road, near Rohat village, 5 km from here on Thursday. Satbir, a resident of Rohat village had given a lift to them. When they reached the village, one of them snatched the jeep from Satbir at pistol point. Satbir has lodged an FIR with Kharkhauda police station.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Wards reservation: The process of delimitation and reservation of wards in Chamba and Dalhousie Municipal Councils and Chowari Nagar panchayat has been completed under the H.P. Municipal (Delimitation and Reservation of Wards) Rules, 1994. Mr K. Sanjaymurthy, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Friday that out of the 11 wards of the local Municipal Council, Chowgan, Chauntra, Hatnala for women, Hardaspura for Scheduled Caste women, Kasakra for Scheduled Caste and Sultanpur for Scheduled Tribe, have been declared reserved.

PALAMPUR
Traffic blocked: The traffic on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway was blocked for three hours on Thursday following an accident near Sahapur. A truck carrying sand had turned turtle and blocked the highway traffic. The truck driver, however, managed to escape. The Sahapur police has registered a case against the truck driver.

SUNDERNAGAR
Car theft: The Sundernagar police has refused to register an FIR of a car theft. Neter Chand, a resident of Mahadev village, purchased a car from Anil Kumar, a resident of Badaun (UP) on April 9, 1999. Anil Kumar applied to the Motor registering authority to transfer the ownership of car in favour of Neter Chand. The car was stolen while it was parked outside Neter Chand's house. The police has refused to register an FIR on the ground that Neter Chand was not the real owner of vehicle.