R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
APPEAL: The local Jain Welfare Society has appealed the residents of the town to follow the traffic rules in the city to reduce congestion. Mr Bimal Parkash Jain, Chairman of the society, said the society had been helping the district administration in creating the parking spaces in the town. He added that the society was also extending full cooperation to the police in the regulation of traffic.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union: president — Mr Y.R. Handa; and secretary — Mrs S. Ghuman.

CHANDIGARH
FOREST OFFICERS: Punjab forest officers’ panel: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Forests Officers Association: President — Mr RS Awasthi; Vice-President — Mr Harinder Singh Chahal; General Secretary — Mr Karamjit Singh Jatana; Information Secretary — Mr Gurbax Singh Dhillon; Cashier — Mr VC Chowdhry and Joint Secretary — Mr SK Bansal.

GURDASPUR
ONE HELD: The police on Monday arrested Pawan Kumar, a resident of Tibber village, 6 km from here, on a charge of cheating Lal Ram and others of Chack Sharif village, according to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP. Lal Ram in his complaint alleged that he had taken money on the pretext of getting his son recruited in the police. The SSP said that the accused confessed that he had cheated Mukhtiar Singh, Bakhshish Singh, Joginder Singh and Kulwant Kaur, all residents of Chack Sharif village.

ANNOUNCED: Mr Sucha Singh Langah, PWD Minister, while addressing a meeting of sarpanches and panches at Dhariwal on Tuesday said the government had launched a Rs 667 crore project for expansion, repair and construction of link roads in the state. Under the project as much as 7961 km of road will be undertaken for repairs during this year.

HOSHIARPUR
DHARNA: Teachers of the local Government Primary Teachers Association headed by Mr Mohinder Singh Heer staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday in protest against the move to abolish primary directorate of the state in order to bring primary schools under middle schools. The association sent a memorandum to the Punjab Government.

WATER SUPPLY SCHEME: The local Municipal Council has approached Hudco for getting loans worth Rs 12 crore for the implementation of water supply and sewage schemes in the city. This was disclosed by Mr Sat Pal Sareen, President of the council.

PLAN: The Punjab Government is planning to constitute village-level samitis which will ensure regular supply of drinking water in the rural areas in the state. This was disclosed by Mr Tikshan Sud, State Minister for Excise and Taxation, while addressing BJP workers here on Tuesday. He said he had apprised the Chief Minister of the water shortage problem in the Kandi area, who had promised to provide requisite funds very shortly.

MALERKOTLA
COMPUTERISED: The local branch of the State Bank of Patiala, has been computerised. Mr M.S. Jaggi, Chief Manager of the branch, claims that this is the first bank in the town which is equipped with this facility for giving better services to the customers.

VACCINATION: A hepatitis — B vaccination camp was organised on Sunday at Shri Hanuman Mandir here by the local branch of the Bharat Vikas Parishad. As many as 1000 persons were vaccinated. Mr Vinod Sharma, president of the parishad, said the third dose would be administered on October 1. The parishad also organised a seminar on ‘Eye donation” on the occasion. Dr M.S. Bhatia, Head of the Department of Eye, Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, was the chief guest, whereas Dr V.P. Goyal, CMO, Civil Hospital, presided over the function.

CHANDIGARH

KERALA SAMAJAM: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Kerala Samajam; President — Mr AV Sankaranarayan; Vice-President — Mr Ranjit Kumar; Secretary — Mr Suresh KN; Joint Secretary — Mr Thomas Verghese; and Treasurer — Mr A Ravindran.

PILES: As part of the Parshuram Jayanti, Shri Brahman Sabha here organised a free ayurvedic camp on piles and fistula. Over 100 patients were examined at the camp.

MEDICAL REPS: Members of the Punjab and Chandigarh Medical Sales Representatives (PCMSRU) have condemned certain policies and finance bill of the Central Government. They have unanimously decided to observe strike on May 11 in support of their demands. The call for the strike has been given nation wide by the FMRAI and the NPMO. According to the state president, Mr A Sawhney, their demands include a 40 per cent rise in daily allowance in view of the 40 per cent hike in petroleum prices; ban on sale of medicines on black market and sale of spurious drugs etc.

BAGI GAON:Mr Jagdamba Prashad has been unanimously elected the President of Chandigarh-based Bagi Gaon Vikas Samiti. Mr Dil Margi has been elected the General Secretary, while Mr Amar Dev is the new Vice-President, Mr Guna Nand is the Treasurer.

KALA MANCH: The 10th annual general body meeting of the Kerala Sastra Kala Manch has elected the following office-bearers for the year 2000-2001: President — K. Sivadasan, Vice-President — N.N. Kutty, General Secretary — Mudhusudanan Pillai, Treasurer — B.K. Jayan, Secretary (Socio-Political) — K. Sasidharan Nair, Secretary (Arts & Culture) — N.K. Ramakrishnan, Secretary (Sports, Games & Discipline) — Ravi Kumar.

TUBEWELLS: Two tubewells, one each in Sector 9 and 17, constructed by HUDA to ease the problem of low water pressure in the township, were inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Monga, here on Tuesday.

BRAHMAN SABHA: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Brahman Sabha of SAS Nagar: President — Mr Gopal Sharma; Senior Vice-President — Mr PP Shukla, General Secretary — Mr Tirloki Nath Sharma; Vice-Presidents — Mr Vijay Kumar Sharma and Mr DN Sharma; Joint Secretary — Mr Brij Nath Sharma; and Cashier — Mr VK Sharma.

SAS NAGAR
SENIOR CITIZENS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Senior Citizens Welfare Forum: President — Col Gurbachan Singh (retd); Senior Vice-President — Mr SS Arora; Vice-President — Mr JS Chawla; General Secretary — Mr TR Laroiya; Joint Secretary — Mr Kuldip Singh; Organising Secretary — Mr Joginder Singh; Treasurer — Mr SC Bector and Press Secretary — Mr TS Chawla.

BREAST FEEDING: The Ranbaxy Community Healthcare Society organised a talk on breast feeding at Sahauroan village here on Wednesday. As many as 52 mothers and adolescent girls participated in the camp.

HARYANA

ROHTAK
MAN SHOT: One person was shot while he was asleep at Mandhothi village in Bahadurgarh subdivision of Jhajjar district on Monday. According to a complaint lodged by the sister of the victim, four persons entered their house by scaling the wall when she and her two brothers were asleep in the compound of their house and shot her brother Sanjay. A case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered.

APPOINTED: The Haryana Government has appointed Mr B.S. Sangwan, Superintending Engineer, PWD, Rohtak circle, as Member Secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board.

MURDER: Ram Singh was murdered by two persons at Khidwali village in the district on Monday. According to a complaint lodged by Savitri Devi, wife of the deceased, the accused identified as Kaptaan Singh and Jai Singh of the same village allegedly attacked her husband with a sharp-edged weapon. A case under Section 302, 201 and 34, IPC, has been registered. Meanwhile, in another incident, the police has booked a student on charges of beating and threatening an exam supervisor during examination at Jat College on Monday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

DHARAMSALA
BOOK RELEASED: The Additional District Magistrate, Mr B.R. Jaswal, has released an anthology of poems entitled “Yuvtiyan”, written by Hirday Pal Singh, at a literary function organised by the Andretta Literary Cultural Society at Palampur recently. A multilingual poetic symposium was also organised on the occasion in which nearly 12 poets participated.

KUMARHATTI
ELECTRICITY WORKER KILLED: Parkash Chand, a resident of Kothi village in Arki tehsil, of the electricity department was killed at Jambal Jamrot, near Shubathu, on Monday. According to police sources, he along with his colleague, Mr Dharam Chand, was pruning a tree when Parkash Chand felled down. The injured worker succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.

MANDI
CASE REGISTERED: A Maruti van carrying 145 deodar scants of smaller size was intercepted and impounded at a Brindavan checkpost on the Mandi-Kulu road, near here, on Monday. Mr Vineet Kumar, DFO, Mandi division, said the owner of the van (HP-01-0192), Ritesh Kumar, had been arrested, while the two escaped. A case under Sections 52-A, 41 and 42 of the Indian Forest Act has been registered.

NAHAN
PAPER OUT OF SYLLABUS: Students of B.Com (III) have written to H.P. University stating that questions in the recently held paper of management, accountancy and income tax were out of syllabus. They demanded grace marks.

NURPUR
RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among residents of Kotpalari gram panchayat of this subdivision over failure of the state government in fulfilling the promises announced by the Chief Minister during his visit at Palahri village in July 1999. They are demanding an opening of ayurvedic dispensary, upgrade of government high school and the construction of link road between Pallahri village and Kotpalari government school.

SOLAN
RECOVERED: Acting on a tip-off, a police party headed by Inspector Durga Dass Sharma intercepted a van (HP-16-0405) near Nagali on the Kalka-Shimla national highway, 6 km from here, and recovered three leopard skins from it on Monday. The driver of the van, Devendra Sharma, and Mahendra of Ratauli and Babyana villages, respectively, have been arrested under the Wild Life Protection Act.