R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
DHARNA: Members of the district unit of Technical Services Union (TSU), PSEB, held a dharna here on Tuesday to press the authorities to implement the decision taken already and to withdraw false cases registered against employees to curb their struggle. Mr Randhi Singh, district president, TSU, said the electricity board had not implemented the agreements arrived at between the board and the union.

RALLY: A rally was organised at Kotkapura on Monday to create awareness among masses against female foeticide by the Lions Club (Vishwas).

CHHAT BIR
WELCOMED: Members of the Punjab Non-Gazetted Forest Officers’ Union, Chhat Bir zoo, and the Class IV Government Employees Union, Punjab, have thanked the decision of Punjab Government for appointing Dr Vinod Sharma as Chief Warden (Zoos), Punjab, and delegating all financial and administrative powers enjoyed by him prior to September 10 last year. Mr Jagpal Singh, president of the Punjab Non-Gazetted Forest Officers’ Union, in a press note said the Punjab Government has taken a right decision that will not only benefit the mute zoo inmates but also to the employees. While in another press note Mr Mahanand, president of the Class IV Government Employees Union, Punjab, welcomed the government’s decision and said that Dr Sharma had been working for the welfare of the zoo for the last 24 years.

DERA BASSI
CITIZEN WELFARE ASSOCIATION: Reacting upon a grievances letter by the Citizen Welfare Association, Dera Bassi, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, has asked the Sub divisional Magistrate, Mr Pritam Singh Johal, to solve the problem of the residents of Adarsh Nagar. Earlier, the association has written a letter to the minister lamenting the problems being faced by them, said Mr T. L. Sharma, president of the association. In a press note Mr Sharma said the SDM has already asked the Executive Officer of the Municipal Council to take their genuine demands.

FEROZEPORE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE: The Health Department has constituted the advisory committee to prevent female foeticide. According to Dr S.K. Rewari, Civil Surgeon, the committee would advice and aid the authorities in implementing PNDT Act, 1994. Following are the members of the committee: Dr O.P. Bagri, Dr Saroj Vadhera, Dr B.R. Arora, Dr Braham Prakash, Mr Prakash Chand, Ms Madhu Prashar and Bawa Hari Singh.

CODE OF CONDUCT: The Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer, Mr S.R. Ladhar, has held a meeting of leaders of all political parties and told them to strictly follow the election code of conduct so that a free and fair poll could be ensured. He said anybody violating the code of conduct would attract 6-month imprisonment or Rs 2,000 fine or both.

LUDHIANA
SOCIAL BANKING: A function on social banking was held by the Bank of Baroda at Tagore Nagar here on Tuesday. Mr R.A. Almeida, General Manager, Northern zone, inaugurated the function. Mr S.K. Bansal, Assistant General Manager, Punjab Chandigarh and J and K region, was also present on the occasion. Mr Almeida inaugurated a retail lending shop in the branch to facilitate small loans for housing up to Rs 50 lakh, educational loans for higher study in India and abroad up to Rs 15 lakh, for purchase of computers, car/scooter and consumers durable like TV, VCR, refrigerators, washing machine, music and cooling systems and for personal needs in the middle income groups. Loans were sanctioned and disbursed among 50 persons, which included loans to woman beneficiaries, retailer businessmen, auto-rickshaw drivers and others.

CONDEMNED: A meeting of the Youth Engaged in Service (YES) was held here on Tuesday. Mr Hitesh Kumar, secretary of the club, in a press statement today said the matter of use of ‘gutkha’ by children in the city, particularly in Urban Estate Dugri, was of serious concern. Mr Kanwal Kumar, president, of the club, has appealed to the parents to be vigilant against the purchase of kites, through which tobacco companies were luring kids by advertising on them. He also appealed the Deputy Commissioner to stop the sale of such kites and confiscate the stock with retailers and wholesalers.

PATIALA
OIL CONSERVATION FORTNIGHT: A district-level function was organised on Tuesday by the Oil Industry here to mark the inaugural ceremony of the Oil Conservation Fortnight. The function was attended by the District Food and Supplies Controller, Capt. H.S. Mokha, and District-level Coordinator(LPG), Mr Rajeev Sharma, who demonstrated several ways to conserve LPG and also lectured on its safe and efficient use.

HONOURED: “To recognise the negative and positive impact of stress on your life will mean that you have already won half the battle against it,” said Dr Ravinder Vatsayan, Ayurvedacharya, during the concluding session of Rotary International’s ‘Conference on Mankind” held at Punjabi University on Tuesday. Dr Vatsayan stressed on the need to understand the impact of psychological stress on human health as nobody is completely free from it, especially in present times.

MOTORCYCLE STOLEN: A black motorcycle (CH-01T-1094) belonging to Mr Taranbir Singh was stolen from outside the Bank of Punjab, Leela Bhavan, here. 

INAUGURATED: A Passport Cell was inaugurated on Tuesday at the district office here by the Deputy Commissioner of Patiala, Mr Jasbir Singh Bir. Application for the issue of passports will be accepted at the cell and after being processed, would be sent to the Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh, from where the passport would be issued. All the applications for passports except those issued under the ‘Tatkal’ scheme and renewal of passports will be accepted. 

TARN TARAN
RAPED: According to a complaint lodged with the police on Friday, a 22-year-old woman of Khara village was raped by four persons. In her complaint the victim said Bohar Singh and Gohlu had come to her house two weeks ago. They took her to the fields and raped her along with two others. The accused have reportedly been arrested. A case under Sections 366 and 376, IPC, has been registered.

HARYANA

AMBALA
QUIZ COMPETITION: A state-level ‘Bharat ko jaano’ quiz competition was organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Ambala city, here on Tuesday. As many as 27 teams from various schools participated in the competition. Dr Pardeep Sharma Snehi, president of the parishad, acted as the quizmaster. The state president of the parishad, Mr Ram Mohan Batra, presided over the function. In the competition Ever Gay Public School, Kaithal, secured first position, Government Senior Secondary School, Shahbad, got second while Government Senior Secondary School, Naraingarh, was placed at the third position in the senior group. In junior group Army School, Ambala Cantonment, got first position, PKR Jain Public School, Ambala city, got second while Bharat Vidhya Mandir, Sadhoura, secured third position. 

BHIWANI
STATUE UNVEILED: Mr Ajay Singh, MP, unveiled the statue of martyr Pradeep Singh at Mundhal Khurd village on Tuesday. Sepoy Pradeep Singh of 34th Battalion died during an attack by infiltrators at Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on January 16, 2000. Earlier, the MP inaugurated two rooms of a school at Talu village.

STONE LAID: The Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University, Maj-Gen Bhim Singh Suhag, laid the foundation stone of a hostel at BRCM College of Engineering and Technology, Behal. He also attended the annual function of the college as chief guest. The function was presided over by Suman Manjri, SP.

KALKA
FLAYED: Former Chairman of the Market Committee, Kalka, alleged on Tuesday that on one hand Chautala government was promising employment to the youth of the state and on the other his government has abolished vacant existing posts in various departments of the state. He alleged that 322 employees of CONFED have been retrenched and about 4,000 posts lying vacant in the Irrigation Department have been abolished. Furthermore, 4,000 JBT employees falling under the DPEP (Direct Primary Education Project) have also been given marching orders. He said this was an injustice to the unemployed youth of the state. 

WORKSHOP: On the second day of the workshop for the teachers of biology and chemistry at DAV Senior Public School problems relating to the handling of weak students and how the teacher can overcome such problems through psychological tools were discussed. In the biology section, Ms Vandana Aggarwal from Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Chandigarh, and Dr Renu Sood from the host school were the resource persons, who engaged and encouraged the teachers to interact freely and discuss their problems and satisfy their queries. In chemistry section, Dr S.K. Khanna from DAV College, Chandigarh, Dr Dolly Gupta from Shishu Niketan, Chandigarh, and Ms Sarita Yadav from the host school were the resource persons. Dr R.K. Chauhan, Regional Director, Ambala Zone, was the chief guest and Dr S.R. Dhawan was the guest of honour.

DELIVERY CHARGES: Mr Dwarka Dass alleged that reintroduction of Rs 6 per cylinder as delivery charges was an injustice with the poor people of this town. He told that some time back when they had protested against this in the open darbar convened by the then Deputy Commissioner, the gas agency had stopped charging the amount, which was then being charged in the shape of ‘hilly area charges’, but they have again started taking this amount. He said he had taken this issue in the notice of DFO, but he has not taken any action yet. Moreover, as per the government notification, Kalka area does not fall under the hilly area category. 

KURUKSHETRA
DEATH ANNIVERSARY: The Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) in collaboration with the district administration observed the death anniversary of KDB’s founder Chairman and former Prime Minister, the late Gulzari Lal Nanda, at the “Sadaachaar Sthal” (Nanda’s samadhi) on the northern banks of the Brahamsarover here on Tuesday.

PANIPAT
LIFE IMPRISONMENT: The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr S.P. Singh, today sentenced Raj Rani to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 for the murder of her husband Jondha Ram, five years ago. However, the Judge acquitted Surinder, another suspect, for lack of evidence.

SEMINAR: A seminar on the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PNDT) Act was organised here on Monday. Mr Satbir Kadian, Haryana Assembly Speaker, supporting the demand for reservation for women, said families with more girls should be suitably rewarded.

YAMUNANAGAR
SUICIDE: A railway employee, Mahender Paul of Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar, allegedly committed suicide here on Friday. The cause of the suicide is not yet known.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
HEALTH SERVICES: Owing to the failure of the Health Department to pay the outstanding electrical maintenance bills to the PWD Electrical Division, Palampur, the PWD has withdrawn its services being rendered to the health institutions in Kangra district. Due to this, the health services have been badly affected in civil hospitals here.

UNA
AWARENESS PROGRAMME: A five-day traffic safety and awareness programme of the Una police concluded at DAV Senior Secondary School here on Friday. The winners of the slogan-writing and spot-painting contests were given prizes by the Superintendent of Police, Mr Abhishekh Trivedi. The winners include: slogan writing — Reena (1), Parminder (2) and Shikha (3); spot painting (seniors) — Shivani (1), Deepti (2), and Deepak (3); and spot painting (junior) Kesh Sharma (1), Devinder (2), and Prashant (3).