R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BARNALA
FIVE ARRESTED: The local police has arrested five persons for indulging in gambling and recovered Rs 22,875 from them. This was stated by the Senior Superintendent of Police in a press note released on Sunday. The police has also arrested Madan Lal for collecting money from people on pretext of procuring visa for Australia.

JALANDHAR
SHOOTOUT: Two persons were injured in a shootout following an unsuccessful attempt by two scooter-borne armed youth to rob a businessman at Kandola village near Nurmahal on Saturday. The youth had been following Vijay Kumar, a resident of the village, when he was returning home after withdrawing Rs 5000 from a bank at Nurmahal. The youth managed to escape after the incident. The injured have been admitted to the Civil Hospital at Nakodar.

KAPURTHALA
FIRE INCIDENTS: A private bus and a paint shop were damaged in two different fire incidents here on Sunday. According to the police, the bus parked at the bus stand caught fire due to sparking from the battery and was completely damaged in the fire. In another incident, a paint shop situated at the local Shastri Market caught fire due to short-circuit.

PATIALA
BJP APPOINTMENTS: The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed Mr Babu Ram Gupta, Ms Kamla Sharma, Mr Purshotam Mahajan and Mr Rattan Lal Goyal as Assistant Returning Officers to conduct the organisational elections of the party in Chandigarh. This was announced by Mr Rajesh Gupta, State Returning Officer, on Monday.

PHAGWARA
ROBBER HELD: Mr Himant Sethi, a PCO owner, was robbed of Rs 1000, a golden bracelet and an artificial one at the local professor’s Colony on the Banga road on Saturday by three scooter-borne persons. The police chased the robbers and caught one of them identified as Ranjit Singh of Goraya. The money was recovered from him. Bracelets are said to be with escaped robbers identified as Shalu of Goraya and Deepa of Dalewal village. A case has been registered.

TARN TARAN
CAMP CONCLUDES: A two-day cardiac camp jointly organised by the Manav Manch, Punjab , and the socio-economic development programme concluded here, on Sunday. A cardiologists team led by Dr A. Ganjoo examined 550 patients. The Rev P.K. Samantary, Amritsar Bishop, inaugurated the camp and Dr Raj Inder Singh, Civil Surgeon, presided.

ACCIDENT: A cyclist, Mr Sucha Singh, resident of Bhucher Kalan village, died in a road accident. The Chabal police has lodged a report under Section 174 of the Cr PC. The body was sent for the post-mortem examination on Saturday.

CHANDIGARH

HC DECISION HAILED: Lawyers at the local courts on Monday hailed the direction of the Delhi High Court to immediately suspend the officers responsible for the lathi charge on lawyers in Delhi and a further judicial inquiry into the matter. Members of the District Bar Association deferred the meeting to decide the issue of strike till April 19. Mr N.S. Minhas, President of the Sikh Lawyers Association, said the development was the result of solidarity and integrity of lawyers of the entire country.

WORKSHOP ORGANISED: IT-interface, a multipurpose workshop for rural people, was organised by Transmedia Infotech in co-ordination with NABARD, CIA, AGRO MASS, TULEC and a local newspaper agency at Dhanas on Monday. The workshop is to promote information technology- Internet in an integrated manner, along with other projects, in rural areas. Mr Jagdish Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Transmedia Infotech, said 18 villages of the Union Territory would have branch offices of Transmedia Infotech, which would educated about 3.2 lakh persons.

KIWI FRUIT: Kiwi fruit will now be available in India for the hotel and restaurant industry as the export of this fruit has been allowed by the New Zealand Government. The first batch of the fruit will be available on India from the middle of May to the middle of November.

PANCHKULA
OFFICE BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panchkula Welfare Federation: President — Mr J.S. Shangari; Senior Vice-President — Mr M.L. Sharma; Vice-Presidents — Ms Aprna Bhardwaj and Mr Ashok Khanna; General Secretary — Mr M.K. Sharma; Secretary — Dr V.K. Gagneja; Finance Secretary — Mr N.S. Sharma; Press Secretary — Mr Prashant Chugh; Organising Secretary — Mr Rakesh Grover; and Auditor — Mr H.R. Sharda.

BLOOD DONATION: Ninety-two employees of HMT Limited, Pinjore, donated blood at a three-hour blood donation camp organised on Monday. The camp was organised by the Chandigarh Blood Bank Society on a call given by the PGI. The camp was inaugurated by Mr C.N. Dhar, Executive Director of HMT.

SAS NAGAR
ALMS-SEEKING CAMPAIGN: The Godrej-GE Employees Union started an alms-seeking campaign in support of its demands from in front of the Labour Commissioner's office in Sector 17, Chandigarh, on Monday. Carrying collection boxes, they moved from shop to shop. The agitation by the union entered its 167th day. The union leader said in spite of the management of the company preventing employees from entering the factory premises, no action had been taken against the management by the labour department.

SALARIES DEMANDED: A delegation of the Punwire Workers Action Committee met Mr D.S. Guru, Secretary in the Industries Department, on Monday and urged him to release the salaries of the employees of the company. Mr Shaid Ahmed, General Secretary of the committee, said an assurance to start the company and pay their pending salaries was given by Mr Guru.

HARYANA

KURUKSHETRA
ANNUAL FUNCTION: The role of the DAV institutions in spreading quality education and the contribution of the Arya Samaj in the freedom struggle and in eradication of social evils was recalled by Mr G.P. Chopra, president, DAV College Managing Committee and the Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Sabha, New Delhi, here on Saturday at the annual day function of DAV Public School. Earlier, the newly - built senior wing building of the school in Sector 3 was inaugurated by Mr Chopra.

YAMUNANAGAR
MANAGING COMMITTEE: The following have been elected office-bearers of the managing committee of the local Guru Nanak Khalsa College: president — Mr Bhupinder Singh Jauhar; vice-president — Mr Harminder Singh Bhatia; general secretary — Mr Jeetinder Singh; and treasurer — Mr Balwant Singh Bangh.

WOMAN RAPED: A married woman was allegedly raped by an unknown person at Nanak Nagar on Sunday when her husband was on night duty. The police has lodged an FIR against the accused under Sections 376, 323, 452 and 506, IPC.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

UNA
CANTEEN COUNTER: Lt General (retd) R.S.Dayal, PVMS, VSM, ADC on Saturday inaugurated an extension on counter of Vajra Canteen, Una in Daulatpur village, 52 km from here. General Dayal, addressing ex-servicemen of the area, said that this counter would serve 4000 ex-servicemen of Amb subdivision of Una district. Major-General (retd) Vikram Singh former Member of Parliament and many other ex-Army officers were present on the occasion.