R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
ERRATIC WATER SUPPLY: Residents in certain areas of the town have been spending sleepless nights to collect a bucket of water from taps as the authorities concerned have been supplying the same at odd hours. Mr Prem Bhatia, president, Consumer Welfare Council, has in letters to the President and Executive Officer, local municipal council, urged to make arrangements for the supply of sufficient drinking water at regular intervals or at least twice a day.

PAY PARITY SOUGHT: A meeting of teaching and non-teaching staff of the government recognised and government-aided schools was held here on Sunday under the chairmanship of Mr Karnail Singh, district president of the union. In a press note issued here on Sunday the general secretary of the union, Mr Paramjit Singh, alleged the state government was giving stepmotherly treatment to the clerical staff of the non-government schools. The pay scales equivalent to the selection grades had not been started despite assurances, he alleged. Mr Ashok Kumar was elected convener of the union at the meeting.

WORKSHOP: Mr Gurbir Singh Mangat, Managing Director, Punjab Cooperative Federation (PUNCOFED), who was here in connection with a workshop organised for employees of the cooperative societies on Friday that to boost the agriculture sector the cooperative agriculture development banks had reduced the interest rates by 2 per cent. The loan processing fee had also been reduced by 50 per cent. Greater cooperation would be ensured for the development of the agriculture sector, he said. This was stated in a press note issued here on Sunday by the District Cooperative Union Ltd.

FAZILKA
MALARIA AWARENESS: Workers of the Punjab Health Department, led by Dr P.M. Kakkar, Senior Medical Officer, Primary Health Centre, Dabwala Kalan, took out a rally on Saturday to create awareness to check malaria. Providing details, Dr Kakkar said the Health Department had observed June as malaria eradication month.

GURDASPUR
NIGHT CURFEW: Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, District Magistrate, on Saturday issued orders to impose night curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the area from the border security fencing to 500 metres inside it in the district till August 25. However, these orders will not apply on GT Road, from border barrier to Gurdaspur.

HOSHIARPUR
BAN ORDERS: Mr vivek Partap Singh, Additional District Magistrate, has extended Section 144 of the Cr PC throughout the district. He has banned the assembly of five or more persons, shouting of slogans and carrying of sharp-edged weapons and firearms in public places. He has also banned the use of military colour uniforms and vehicles by civilians. All these orders will remain in force up to August 28, 2001.

SUICIDE: Charanjit Singh of Nangal Awan village committed suicide by consuming celphos tablets. He was allegedly frustrated due to a land dispute with his brothers. The Mukerian police registered a case under Sections 306 and 34, IPC, on Saturday.

GIRL ABDUCTED: Shabnam (20), a student of BDS at Guru Ram Dass College, Amritsar was allegedly abducted by Dalbir Singh of Khanpur village and others on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. On the complaint of Balbir Singh of Khanpur, the Mukerian police has registered a case against Dalbir Singh, Ranjit Singh, Prem Singh, Ajit Singh and Hardish Kaur of the same village under Sections 366 and 120B of the IPC.

JAGRAON
CHARGE TAKEN: Mr Sohinderjit, Xen, PSEB, has assumed charge as Xen (Operation) here. He was previously posted as SDO (City).

KAPURTHALA
ARRESTED: The police has arrested five proclaimed offenders wanted in various criminal cases registered in the kotwali police station and also at sadar police station besides Phagwara, according to Ms Gurpreet Deo, Senior Superintendent of Police.

KHANNA
SEATS DEMANDED: The Bazigar Sewa Dal, a wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Punjab), at a meeting held here on Monday demanded that reserved seats of Khanna, Amloh, Suttrana and Bhadore be allotted to it. It supported the candidature of Mr Mulk Raj Mashall from Khanna. It also urged the Punjab Government not to dislocate Bazigar Basti, Mullanpur, which had been there since 1947.

KHARAR
CLUB DAY: The Lions Club celebrated its third foundation day here on Sunday, Dr N.K. Grover, District Governor 32I-F was the chief guest. He praised the President, Mr Sudarshan Verma, on being rewarded the best club in the district. The new team headed by Mr Preet Kanwal Singh was sworn in.

LUDHIANA
STRIKE POSTPONED: The District Chemists and Druggist Association has decided to postpone its strike, which was to be observed on Tuesday. In a press note issued here on Monday, the general secretary of the association, Mr Lalit Verma, said negotiations were going on between the police and the district administration regarding the issue. “We are hopeful that our demand to bring chemists out of the purview of the NDPS Act will be accepted”, said Mr Verma.

MUSICAL EVENING: The Sutlej Club organised a musical evening and bumper tambola at the club here on Sunday. The renowned band of Rodrigues from Chandigarh entertained the audience according to Ms Manjula Jain, cultural secretary of the club.

FUNCTION: The Shri Gyan Sthal Mandir Sabha organised its 47th widow pension distribution function at Subhani Building on Sunday. Nearly 351 widows were given all necessary food articles, toiletries and other household items. Dr Balbir Chand Kapila, vice-president, BJP, Punjab, was the chief guest. Mr Jagdish Bajaj, chairman, said the sabha had organised computer, cooking, stitching and embroidery classes in the last month.

DHARNA: The joint action committee of the Government Primary and Elementary Teachers will hold a dharna on Tuesday in protest against the indifferent attitude of the Punjab Government towards the Unemployed Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) qualified youth. Stating this in a press note, Mr B.K. Moudgill, general secretary, Government Primary Teachers Association, said the government was delaying the implementation of the elementary directorate which had resulted in mass unemployment. He said since the state Education Department had failed to make elementary plans and arrangements for introducing the new directorate, the members of the committee had decided to form suitable plans and present them before Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, within a fortnight. Meanwhile, the ETT teachers met Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, and Mr Tota Singh, at Alamgir on Monday and presented a memorandum of their demands.

WORKING WOMEN'S HOSTEL: A working women’s hostel was inaugurated here on Monday. Located in the heart of the city, the hostel can accommodate 120 girls. The hostel has a beauty parlour, a health club, a cyber cafe, a library and a PCO.

MALERKOTLA
REINSTATEMENT: Mr J.P. Singla, Deputy Director (LD) of the Panchayat Department, in letter no 6/35/99/-15532, has ordered the reinstatement of Mrs Mahinder Kaur, a woman panch of gram panchayat, Salempur, (District Sangrur). He ordered her to attend all meetings of the gram panchayat.

MANSA
NEW DCC CHIEF: A former Punjab minister and newly appointed President of the District Congress Committee (DCC), Mr Sher Singh Gagowal, took charge on Saturday at a function organised on the premises of the local Mai Nikko Devi Model High School. Later, he inaugurated the new office of the DCC in the local grain market. He said the new executive body of the district would be constituted shortly with the approval of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.

PATIALA
BEOPAR MANDAL: As many as 25 candidates from the Punjab Beopar Mandal will contest the coming assembly elections. This was stated by Mr Madan Lal Kapoor, President, Pradesh Beopar Mandal while addressing a function held to appoint the President of the Patiala district unit here on Sunday. Mr Kapoor said that an effort was being made by the Punjab Beopar Mandal to establish unity among different groups formed at the state level. He said that the mandal would now aim at creating brotherhood among the three groups formed in Patiala district and four groups formed at the state level.

CROREPATI CLUB CONCEPT: The State Bank of India introduced a new concept to form a crorepati club here on Monday. The club will comprise branch managers who have been able to reduce the non-performing assets (NPA) of their branches for more than Rs 1 crore during 2000-2001. The State Bank of India, Rajpura, has been nominated as one of the members of this club for reducing Rs 1.20 crore during the current financial year.

CRASH COURSE: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre at Punjabi University has started a crash course for PCS (Judicial) for the candidates preparing of these tests to be conducted by the PPSC on August 16.

CHANDIGARH

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the All-India Telecom Employees Union CL-III (Namboodri): President — Mr Gian Singh Daun; Vice-President — Mr Harbir Kaur; Secretaries — Mr Jaspal Singh and Mr Jitender; Cashier — Mr N.P.S.D. Brar and Auditor — Mr Hari Dev Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
PROTEST OVER ELECTRONIC POWER METER: A protest was organised by the Lok Sangharsh Manch over the setting up of electronic power meters in Ambala cantonment. A number of people participated in the protest rally which was taken through the different markets. The demonstrators demanded that the electronic power meters should not be installed. They said that there has been a steady increase in the power tariff which is an “anti-people” policy. The demonstrators raised slogans demanding that the new electronic power meters must be taken back. Manch convener Balbir Singh Saini said that the decision to take out the rally was taken at a meeting held on June 24.

DOCTORS GET BAIL: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ms Anita Chaudhry, on Monday granted bail to the two doctors who were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau for allegedly taking a bribe from patients. Earlier they were sent to judicial custody when the local court did not granted them bail. Dr P.S. Ahuja and Dr L.N. Garg were produced before the judge who granted them bail.

JAIN SAINTS IN CITY: Two prominent Digamber Jain saints, Saurabh Sagar and Sagar Maharaj, reached here on Monday evening. They were received and welcomed by the Jain community. The President of Ambala Cantonment Digambar Jain Sabha, Mr Inder Kumar Jain, and other prominent persons of the city were present on this occasion. Later the Jain saints arrived at the Jain Temple in a procession.

KAITHAL
MANAGER ARRESTED: The police has arrested Karnail Singh, Manager, Neeraj Gas Agency, following the seizure of 57 gas cylinders stored illegally. The raid was conducted by officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department led by AFSO Lekh Raj Dhingra, on Friday. A case under Sections 7, 10 and 55 of the Essential Commodities Act has been registered.

TWO HELD: The Siwan police on Saturday seized 5 kg of poppy husk from Surjit Singh of Paharpur village and 10 bottles of illicit liquor from Om Parkash of Kakheri village and arrested them. The police has registered cases against them under the NDPS Act and the Excise Act, respectively.

PANIPAT
1 DEAD: A woman, Suresh of Rampur Maniharan village, died and 15 others were injured in a road accident on Saturday, near Chhajpur village on the Sanoli road, when a truck in which they were travelling overturned. The injured were admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The truck was reportedly flouting the prescribed speed limit.

SIRSA
INAUGURATED: Two remote line units (RLU) of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd have been commissioned, while the third will be commissioned in the last week of July. Mr Sanjeevan Kumar, Area Manager, said this here on Sunday after inaugurating the second RLU of 1,000 lines at Barnala Road here. He said after the commissioning of these three RLUs the major area of the city would be able to get telephone on demand.

SONEPAT
CASH STOLEN: A bag containing Rs 30,000 was allegedly stolen from a bicycle parked in the main bazaar in Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Sunday. The bag belonged to Mr Mohinder Singh Malik, an ex-serviceman, who has informed the police in this connection.

GHERAO THREATENED: The Ram Bazar Cloth Market Association on Monday threatened to gherao officials of the Sonepat Municipal Council if steps were not taken to repair roads and streetlighting arrangements in the area improved. Repeated requests had brought no relief, alleged the association.

KIDNAPPED: Akash (6), was allegedly kidnapped while he was riding bicycle in a street near his house at Murthal village, 8 km from here, on Sunday evening. A case has been registered.

BODY IDENTIFIED: The Ganaur police on Monday claimed to have identified the headless body found a few days ago from Bajana Kalan village as that of Ram Phal, a former sarpanch of Jagsi village. The police has registered a case believing it to be a case of murder.

ASSAULT: A woman was injured seriously when she was allegedly attacked by some persons at Kheri Manajat village, 15 km from here, on Sunday. According to a report, a dispute over money was stated to be the cause of the assault.

CM’S VISIT: Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, and the Union Deputy Home Minister, Mr I.D. Swami, will visit Ganaur on July 8 in connection with a religious function.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
CLEANLINESS: The cleanliness of the ‘chowgan’ here has been put to an annual contract of Rs 10,000 for the first time for giving it a face-lift. This was disclosed here on Monday by Mr R.D. Nazeem, Deputy Commissioner. He said the step had taken on an experimental basis in order to keep the ‘chowgan’ clean in all seasons.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the ad-hoc committee for the Officers’ Club of the Chamara Hydroelectric Project (stage-II): president — Mr Parminder Singh; vice-president — Mr N. Omnakuttam; working vice-president — Mr K.K. Joshi; secretary — Mr P.C. Vaish; joint secretary — Mr S.C. Aggarwal; and treasurer — Mr B.S. Khurana.

KASAULI
RETIREMENT: Dr B.M. Gulati, Deputy Director, Veterinary polyclinic, Department of Animal Husbandry, retired from service on Saturday after serving the department for 35 years in various capacities.

SUNDERNAGAR
LIFE IMPRISONMENT: In a significant judgement, an Additional Sessions Judge, Mandi, on Saturday, convicted Ram Krishan of Jawal under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for life and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 for the murder of his wife Dimple (24). Dimple was found dead in the house of the convict under mysterious circumstances in December, 1998.