R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PROTEST RALLY: A protest rally was staged against the alleged high-handed behaviour of councillor Shwait Mallik by the Joint Action Committee, PSEB, outside the Civil Lines division office on Thursday. The employees alleged that the councillor was falsely implicating a Junior Engineer and other employees of the PSEB.

DHURI
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sangrur unit of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association: president — Dr K.S. Khurana; vice-president — Dr Suresh Singla; general secretary — Dr N.S. Parwana; and joint secretary — Dr Prem Singh.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the State Ophthalmic Officers Association: president — Mr Narinder Mehta; senior vice-president — Mr Karnail Singh; general secretary — Mr Jaswinder Singh; vice-president — Mr Rakesh Sharma; finance secretary — Mr Arvind Sharma; and joint secretary — Ms Jagdish Kaur.

GARHSHANKAR
DEAD: Surjit Kaur (17) succumbed to her burn injuries at a hospital in Hoshiarpur. The Mahilpur police has registered a case under Section 174 in this regard.

KILLED: In a jeep-tractor collision near Satnaur, jeep driver Kuldeep Singh died on the spot. The police has registered a case and arrested the driver of the tractor-trailer.

SENTENCED: The Additional Sessions Judge here sentenced Manjit Singh of Rampur to 10 years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him for smuggling opium. The Mahilpur police had arrested him near Chak-Narial and recovered 1 kg opium from his possession.

LIQUOR SEIZED: The Saila Khurd police has arrested Jaswinder Singh and recovered 54,000 ml of liquor from his possession. A case under Section 18-61-81 has been registered against him.

HOSHIARPUR
ILLICIT LIQUOR SEIZED: The police has arrested Girdhari Lal of the local Bhagat Nagar Mohalla and Ajit Singh of Ajit Nagar and recovered 1.44 lakh ml of country made foreign liquor from their possession. The Garhshankar police has arrested Gulzara Singh of Dinowal village and recovered 2 kg of poppy husk from his possession.

KHANNA
KILLED: A panch of the nearby Kaurri village was killed on the G.T. Road when the scooter he was riding was hit by a car on Tuesday night. Another person was injured in the accident. According to SHO Ram Singh of Sadar police station, panch Darshan Singh was going to his village on a scooter along with Jit Singh when the two-wheeler was hit by a car (PB-26B-6003) near the village. Both injured were rushed to the local civil hospital. Darshan Singh was shifted to the CMC and Hospital, Ludhiana where he succumbed to his injuries. 

KHARAR
GIRL DEAD: A girl died and a boy was seriously injured in Bajheri village about 6 km from here, on Friday. According to the information, Munni, aged about 18 years, died because of consuming some poisonous substance, while Bagga Singh, aged about 18 years, a resident of Nabipur village, running a tailoring shop in Bajheri village, was brought to Civil Hospital, Kharar. He had been stabbed by someone. The doctor informed the police and referred him to the PGI in Chandigarh. Both are unmarried and belong to scheduled castes. The police has started investigations. 

LUDHIANA
MEDICAL CAMP: The Ludhiana Cultural and Social Welfare Club will organise a free medical camp for patients suffering from heart and general ailments in Neeru Maternity and Surgical Centre, Rishi Nagar, on Sunday. Dr Gurpreet S. Wander, Cardiologist and Medical Superintendent, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Dr R.S. Bal, general physician, Dr Rajnish Uppal, heart specialist, and Dr Neeru Mittu, gynaecologist, will check the patients in the camp. Besides, free ECG, x-rays, scannings and laboratory test will be performed. Medicines will also be distributed free of cost. The chief guest on the occasion will be Mr Sikander S. Maluka, Minister of Power, Punjab, and the camp will be inaugurated by Mr Jagtar Singh, Joint Commissioner, Income Tax, Punjab. 

NOMINATED: Mr H.L. Sethi, President, District Bhartiya Janta Party, in a press note issued here has informed that Mr Kamal Chaitely has been nominated as the district president of the BJP Yuva Morcha, Ludhiana. The appointment has been made by the president of the BJP Yuva Morcha , Punjab. 

SEMINAR: The Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension, Panjab University, will organise a day-long seminar on ‘Right to choose reproductive rights and reproductive health’ in the Malwa Central College of Education for Women, Civil Lines, on Tuesday. More than 35 delegates of different education colleges of Panjab University, Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University are likely to participate in the seminar. Dr Rajinder Kaur, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, will inaugurate the seminar. 

MEDITATION: To create health awareness among people, the Health Education Cell of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital will organise the 21st public health lecture on Meditation through music on January 20, 2001 at the Dumra Auditorium at 6.55 p.m. The lecture will be delivered by Dr Trilok Chandra, Reader and former Head, Department of Philosophy from Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar. Dr G.S. Wander, medical suprintendent, DMCH, in a press note said Dr Chandra had developed a technique of medication through music by which mind was gradually concentrated automatically and had also developed a device to overcome drug addiction by yoga and music. Dr Rajoo Singh Chinna, Convener, Health Education Cell, said that the topic holds a great importance in the context of today’s fast and hectic life style when people live under great stress. The result was developing of various diseases like ulcers, digestion problems, cardiac problems and behaviour abnormalities. To fight these problems people take shelter of drugs and medicines but the pressures of fast life could easily be dealt with the medication through music, which made a balming effect on the body and mind. 

CELEBRATED: Various ladies clubs in the city celebrated Lohri with fervour and happiness. The members of Lakshmi Ladies Club celebrated Lohri on Thursday at the club premises. A number of cultural items including giddha, bhangra and solo dances were presented by the club members. The members of Niharika Ladies Club celebrated Lohri at IMA Bhavan, BRS Nagar, on Friday. The club members had arranged a dholi on which they performed giddha and bhangra. Members sang various Punjabi songs like sunder mundarie, kala sha kala and de mai lohri jeeve teri jodi. A kite competition was also held and some of the ladies showed their skills in kite flying and won prizes. The new office bearers of the club for the year 2001-2002 were also unanimously elected on the occasion. 

WELFARE SOCIETY: Col Rajinder Singh Sohi (retd) has been unanimously elected as the president of Ex-servicemen Welfare Society after the death of its former president, Brig D.S. Brar. According to an official press note, the remaining appointments of the executive committee remain unchanged. 

CONTEST: A recipe contest was organised in Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town. Nearly 65 students of the college participated in the contest and prepared a variety of recipes. Vijay Lakshmi, Rinkle Sharma, Sukhdeep Kaur and Harsimran Kaur were declared first, second, third and fourth, respectively. Ms Tejinder Kaur, Home Science teacher at the college, conducted the contest. 

MOGA
SUICIDE: An unidentified middle-aged man allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a passenger train about 2 km from here on Moga-Ludhiana track on Wednesday. The body has been recovered by the police and sent for a post-mortem.

FINE COLLECTION: The District Transport Office has recovered over Rs 40 lakh from violators of traffic rules during the past six months. This was stated by District Transport Officer Pritpal Singh here on Thursday.

NAWANSHAHR
SCHOOL TIMINGS: The District Magistrate, Dr Roshan Sunkaria, on Thursday prohibited the opening of all government and private schools here before 9.45 a.m. due to extreme cold and foggy conditions. The order will remain in force till January 31.

4 INJURED: Four persons, Ajit Singh, Surjit Singh, Mohinder Singh and Archana, were seriously injured when a Pepsu Roadways bus and a minibus collided on the Chandigarh road here due to dense fog.

PATIALA
INVITED: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has invited Dr Raman K. Verma, a senior lecturer of the Punjabi University, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research, to participate in the international symposium on bioinformatics and genomics, to be held in Bangalore from January 15 to 17. He has also been invited by the Astra Zenica Research Foundation India to present his research paper at the international symposium on progress in drug discovery and development sciences, to be held at the Indian Institute of Science, slated to be held in Bangalore from January 17 to 19.

PHILLAUR
TRAFFIC BLOCKED: Residents of the town and surrounding villages, led by former Punjab minister Santokh Singh, blocked vehicular traffic for several hours on the Phillaur-Noormahal road on Friday in protest against the poor condition of the road. Demonstrators raised anti-government slogans and held a protest rally and a dharna.

SAMRALA
LOHRI GIFTS: For the first time, Lohri gifts were given to women who had given birth to child, by the local Child Development and Project officer, Ms Avtar Kaur, here on Friday. The gesture has been appreciated by one and all. Prominent among those who hailed it included social worker, Mr Kuldeep Khullar, and the district senior vice president of BJP , Mr Anil Gupta.

RALLY: A gate rally was held here on Friday in front of the office of the SDO, PSEB, at Katani Kalan, 10 km from here, in connection with the proposed strike of February 14 all over the state by the powermen. The rally was addressed by Mr Surjit Vishad and Mr Bharpoor Singh among others. 

BAR NOMINATION: Mr Uttam Chand, Mr Gurdev Singh and Mr S.M. Singh have submitted their nomination papers for the election of the president of the Bar Association, Samrala, which is to be held on Jan 20, according to Mr L.S. Rai, the Bar president. 

CHANDIGARH

RELEASED: The UT Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, released a handbook on rates of sales tax at a function held in the Chandigarh Club here on Thursday. The book was compiled by the Income Tax and Sales Tax Bar Association. Addressing the gathering, the senior vice-president of the association, Mr Kulbir Jain, said this was the first formal book on sales tax in Chandigarh. He said the book had been compiled with the cooperation of the Study Circle Wing of the association. Mr M. Ramsekhar admitted that a large number of cases were pending in the department and the reason was lack of manpower. He assured the members that the department would soon recruit more employees. The Deputy Commissioner of Excise and Taxation, Mr Prithi Chand was also present on the occasion. 
 

HARYANA

AMBALA
STRIKES ENDS: The five-day strike of the All-India Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Associations of India (FMRAI) concluded on Friday. The zonal secretary (north) of FMRAI, Mr Anil Wadhawan said the demands for statutory working rules for sales promotion employees, extension of benefits of SPE Act to non-pharma industries, formation of separate subcommittee for sales promotion employee and referring FDC issue to national tribunal were pending before the Central Government. He regretted that while many state governments had declared minimum wages for medical representatives, the Haryana Government had not started the process. The demands for formation of state-level review committee, appointment of SPE Act inspectors, maintenance of service books and service register, payment of bonus as per bonus Act and implementation of labour laws were also pending before the state government, he added. If these demands were not met, the FMRAI would decide on future course of action at its 19th conference, to be held in New Delhi from February 21 to 24.

DEMAND: The Citizens Council, Ambala Cantonment on Thursday demanded establishment of traffic parks to educate the automobile user regarding traffic rules. The chairman of the council, Mr N.C. Jain, said a compulsory subject on traffic rules should be added to the curriculum. The council further suggested that more auto users should be encouraged to use compressed natural gas. 

DECISION CRITICISED: The Haryana State STD PCO Holders Association on Friday criticised BSNL’s decision to extend local call facility upto 200 km. The association president, Mr Naresh Chadha, and general secretary, Mr Naresh Garg, in a joint statement, said in 1990, PCOs were allotted to the unemployed disabled and widows. The department had a policy of not allotting PCOs in an area if a PCO had revenue of less than Rs 2,000 and there was to be a gap of at least 2000 metres. The association demanded that the service charge on any code call be Rs 4, the service charge of ISD call be Rs 10, commission be at least 35 per cent and late night service charge be Rs 3 per call. 

KALKA
LITERACY: The SDM, Mr Sandeep Singh, inaugurated a literacy workshop-cum-competition organised by Kurukshetra University on the premises of the local Government College. Addressing the students, he said literacy was the mirror of society and such workshops helped to bring out the best from students. About 100 competitors from 20 colleges are participating in this workshop.

SIRSA
SANCTIONED: The Rural Electrification Corporation of the Central Government has sanctioned a power distribution system project of Rs 3.53 crore to the Southern Haryana Distribution Corporation for regularising power supply in the district. Under this project, a 33 kv substation is to be built on the local Mela Ground.

SONEPAT
WATER SUPPLY SCHEMES: The Haryana Government has sanctioned 733 schemes, including 63 for the district, for augmenting drinking water supply and improving the sewerage system in the state. This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Sudhir Rajpal here on Thursday.

TICKETLESS TRAVELLERS: The checking staff of Northern Railway, headed by a Railway Magistrate, conducted surprise checking in incoming and outgoing trains at the local railway station on Thursday and caught more than 100 passengers travelling without tickets.

PROTEST: The Residents Welfare Association here on Friday expressed concern over the alleged diverting of rationed kerosene oil into the black-market and protested against the failure of the authorities concerned to check the irregularities of the depot holders in this city.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

APPOINTED: Mr Punkaj Bhartiya of Dainik Jagran has been appointed the coordinator of the newly-formed District Unit of Journalists. Mr Sushil Kumar Sharma of Ajit Samachar and Mr Sachin Bhatla of Punjab Kesari would be assistant coordinators.