R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FATEHGARH SAHIB
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sirhind Arhtiya Association : chairman — Mr Vijay Verma; president — Mr Surjit Singh Sahi; senior vice-president — Mr Bahadur Singh; vice president — Mr Satnam Singh; and general secretary — Mr Inder Jit Singh Sandhu.

GARHSHANKAR
BODY FOUND: The body of a 40-year-old man , wearing a white shirt and black trousers was found in the bathroom of Shahidan Gurdwara, Mahilpur, on Saturday.

DEN SMASHED: The Garhshankar police raided the house of Krishna , wife of Sucha Singh, and arrested her along with five others, including three girls, for allegedly running a prostitution den.

APPOINTED: The Chairman of the Punjab Seva Dal, Mr Harbans Lal Khanna, has appointed Mr Ram Lal Dhiani as the general secretary of the Dal.

ARRESTED: The local police has arrested Paramjit Singh, Satnam Singh of Denowal Khurd and Kamaljit Singh for allegedly possessing a large quantity of poppy husk.

LUDHIANA
ADMINISTRATION: Mr S.K. Sandhu , Deputy Commissioner, has promised to bridge the gap between the administration and residents of the city. This was stated by Mr Sandhu while addressing a gathering at a function organised at Guru Nanak Homoeopathic Medical College. Dr Tejinder Pal Singh, Principal of the college, and Dr Karam Singh, Chairman , welcomed Mr Sandhu.

NAWANSHAHR
HELD: The Nawanshahr police has arrested two chain snatchers Sarabjit and Shinder Kaur, both residents of Baghraian village (Sangrur district) on Friday. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, said both accused were caught red handed while snatching a gold chain of Mr Kuldip Singh. He was boarding the Punjab Roadways Bus at Rahon. A case has been registered.

TRIBUTES PAID: Tributes were paid to former CPM MLA Harbans Singh Beeka who was gunned down by the terrorists 12 years ago, at a shardhanjali samaroh organised at his native village Beeka, about 12 km from here, on Saturday. Prof Balwant Singh , State Secretary of the CPM, said about 300 party activists had sacrificed their lives fighting against militancy in the state.

CASE SOLVED: The local police claims to have solved the mystery behind the murder of one Vijay Kumar Sharma, son of Baldev Raj Sharma, a resident of Jalandhar cantonment and an employee of OBC Moron branch, whose dead body was found near Mangoowal village on April 27. Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, in a press note issued here on Saturday said that the Banga police had arrested Achharjit, a resident of Mangoowal village and the identity card of the deceased was recovered from him. During interrogation the accused admitted that he in connivance with Balbir Singh of Khatkar Kalan village beat Vijay Kumar to death with sticks.

PHILLAUR
DOWRY CASE : The Phillaur police has registered a case under Section 307 and 498 A of the IPC on a complaint lodged by Vijay Lakshmi against her husband Navjot Sharma and her in-laws of Chuck Sabboo village. Vijay Lakshmi, who married to Navjot 16 months ago, alleged that her-in-laws tortured her for bringing insufficient dowry.

CHANDIGARH

PLAZA CARNIVAL: The Plaza Carnival began here on Saturday with 55 students of Stepping Stones Secondary School, Sector 38-A, presenting aerobics and gymnastics. Among the gymnasts were national-level players. This was followed by Punjabi songs, opera, ballet of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. The singers were Satnam Mullanpuri who sang Ki puchde o haal fakiran da. Shikra was sung by Anil Kumar and Mainu tera shabab lai baitha by Sharanjit. The other items included Punjabi ballets Loona and opera Lahu Punjab da.

SOFT DRINK: Mr Pankaj Sharma, a resident of Sector 29, and Mr Naveen Pun, a resident of Sector 36, have in separate complaints alleged that two bottles of soft drinks (300 ml each) of a reputed brand had impurities in them. The consumers said they would take up the matter with the consumer court.

ELECTED: Mr Hira Singh Bisht has been elected the Chairman of the Government Press Technical Workers Union UT. Other members of the union are: Ram Sawroop, Ravi Nandan, Avandutt Varishth, Amrik Singh, Ramesh Chand, Sunil Kumar, Kamal Kishore, Jagmohan Kapoor, Ravinder Kumar, Kuldip Kumar, Ram Rattan.

SAS NAGAR
DHARNA: Residents of Phase 3A have threatened to sit on dharna in front of the office of the Executive Engineer concerned of the Punjab State Electricity Board if the erratic power supply to their area does not improve within two days. They said that there had been frequent breakdown for the past 15 days. The Residents Welfare Association of the area said repeated complaints in this regard had failed to make any impact.

STRIKE: The strike by the Godrej-GE Employees Union entered its 170th day on Saturday. Mr Vikas Sharma, General Secretary of the union, said the management of the company was adamant on not accepting their demands despite intervention by senior officials of the state Labour Department.

FELLOWSHIP: Dr Ashish Jain, a member of the Indian Dental Association, has been awarded the post-doctoral research fellowship by Boston University, said a press release of the SAS Nagar branch of the association.

CLARIFICATION: In the news about the gurdwara poll of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Phase 11 here, instead of Section 146 of the CrPC it was inadvertently mentioned that Section 164 of the CrPC had been imposed by the local administration.