R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
REFUTED: A former Chairman of Punjab Agro and senior SAD leader, Mr Jagjit Singh Ghungrana, has refuted the allegation levelled against him by an Akali MLA, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha that he had opposed Mr Garcha in the election. Mr Ghungrana instead alleged that Mr Garcha and his associates had opposed SAD candidates openly at Malerkotla, Samrala, Raikot and Ludhiana (Rural) constituencies. He urged the party high command to constitute a fact-finding committee for these constituencies including Kila Raipur.

AMLOH
CHECK-UP CAMP: A medical check-up camp will be organised at Government Senior Secondary School (girls’ wing) in Bhadson village near here on March 16. Medicines would be given to patients free of cost, said Mr Gurjinder Singh, Principal of the school, on Thursday. Besides, eye operations would be performed at the Primary Health Centre, Bhadson, by Dr Parshotam Goyal of Civil Hospital, Nabha, on March 24, he added.

AMRITSAR
PURSE SNATCHED: A purse containing Rs 5,000 in cash, important documents and keys was snatched from a doctor of the Surgery Department in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital from the hospital premises at 12 noon here on Thursday. The doctor alleged that a 30-year-old man came on a scooter and snatched her purse.

PSEB RALLY: A gate rally was organised by the Technical Services Union, Punjab State Electricity Board, Bhadson Subdivision, near here on Wednesday. This was stated by Mr Jangir Singh, president of the Amloh division mandal, in a press note here on Thursday. Speakers criticised the stagnation in the disposal of General Provident Fund and leave cases, award of annual increments and allotment of quarters to the technical employees in the office of the Executive Engineer. The presidents of the Bhadson and Tohra units Mr Mohinder Ram and Mr Mewa Ram, and the president and the secretary of the divisional committee, Mr Prithipal Singh, President and Mr Jangir Singh, also addressed the rally.

JALANDHAR
BODY FOUND: The body of a 24-year-old man was found from a ‘sarowar’ in Pandori Musharak village under the Noormahal police station on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Paramjit Singh, a resident of Samrai village. He had reportedly been missing since March 11. The police have sent the body for a post-mortem examination.

KAPURTHALA
SUICIDE: Gurvinder Singh (31), a chemist at the local Jatpura mohalla allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the Kali Bein river near hear on Wednesday. His body was found floating in the river on Thursday. The police has registered a case.

KHANNA
BOOK BANK: The A. S. College Alumni Association has decided to introduce a book bank for deserving and needy students of the town. The decision was taken at a meeting held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Mr Boota Singh, president of the association. Mr K. K. Sharma, Principal, A. S. Senior Secondary School, Khanna, was appointed convener of the project. Mr J. S. Lottey, Mr Chaman Lal Goel, Ms Shashi Goel, Mr Vinod Vashisht, Dr Inderjit Singh, Mr L. C. Bector, Mr T. R. Bahia and Ms Rekha Bhardwaj among others attended the meeting.

KHARAR
ANNUAL FUNCTION: J.C. Public School, Mundi Kharar, will organise annual function on Sunday at 11a.m. Dr Harish Dhillon, Principal, Yadvindra Public School, SAS Nagar, will be the chief guest and Mr Balbir Singh Sidhu will be the guest of honour. 

MEETING: A general body meeting of Dr Ambedkar Bhalai Manch, Kharar, will be held on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Rest House near Bus Stand, Kharar, to discuss about budget, achievements of the manch, elections of the manch, problems of Dalits and to celebrate birthday of Dr Ambedkar falling on April 14. 

POWER SHUTDOWN: The power supply to Kharar and surrounding villages would remain suspended on March 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. because of urgent repair work. 

EYE CAMP: The Citizen Welfare Club, Kharar, will organise a free eye operation camp at Civil Hospital, Kharar, on March 23 and 24. The patients would be given free food, and medicines.

MALERKOTLA
SUICIDE: Amar Chand, 55 a sewadar at the local Bhawalpuri dharamshala, Satta Bazaar, committed suicide on Wednesday in the dharamshala premises. The reason behind the suicide is not yet known. The police has registered a case in this regard.

MULLANPUR GARIBDAS
KRISHI CARDS: As many as 22 farmers were given sanction letters for krishi cards at a function held at the Punjab National Bank here on Thursday. Mr N.C. Jain, Senior Regional Manger, PNB Branch, Chandigarh, B-Region, explained the benefits of the krishi card to over 100 farmers of Seeonk, Perch, Sangariwala and Mullanpur villages. He told them that the card could be obtained against land holdings and loan could be taken from any branch of the PNB in the district on low interest rates. The PNB is also giving personal insurance to the farmer who borrows from the bank on his card. The others who were present on the occasion included Mr Manoj Gulati, Branch Manager of the PNB, Mr Arvind Puri and sarpaches of the four villages.

NAWANSHAHR
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the district unit of the NRI Sabha, Punjab: president — Mr Kewal Singh Dhillon; vice-presidents — Mr Raghuvir Singh Mahil, Mr Karnail Singh Ghakewal and Mr Chuhar Singh; general secretary — Ms Jatinder Kaur Moonga, secretary — Mr Harbans Lal and joint secretary — Mr Lakhwinder Singh Barwa.

EYE CAMP: The local unit of Sri Ram Sharanam (Gohana) organised a free eye operation camp with IOL facility here at Sri Ram Sharanam Bhavan on Thursday. A team of doctors examined 450 patients and performed 63 operations, out of which lens were implanted in as many as 53 cases, informed Dr J.D. Verma, pramukh sevadar of Sri Ram Sharnam, here on Thursday.

PATHANKOT
APPOINTED: Mr S.P. Singh was appointed state president of the All-India Nasha Virodhi Parcharak Manch here on Wednesday.

CASSETTES SEIZED: The police has arrested Sandip Rajpal and Rajeev Rajpal, both local residents and proprietors of Crown Video Lab, under the Copyright Act and seized 15,000 illegal cassettes and CDs in a raid on their residence.

PATIALA
NEW PRTC CHAIRMAN JOINS: Mr Jarnail Singh Chahal, DGP, has taken over as the new chairman of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation. He has replaced Mr M.S. Sathiala, a former Akali MLA, who resigned earlier. 

KISAN MELA: Punjab has achieved a record production in wheat, rice, milk and honey and the need of the hour is sustainable agriculture. We have excessively used our resources of water and soil. The time has come when we use them judiciously, remarked Dr K.S. Aulakh while inaugurating the kisan mela organised by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Rouni village near here on Thursday. Dr Aulakh stressed the need of diversified and precision farming in order to meet the challenges of minimising the cost of production, improving the nutritional status of people and sustaining the natural resources. At the same time Dr Aulakh cautioned that to be successful in such kind of farming, farmers would have to carry out their operations on their own rather than depending upon hired labour. Highlighting the research activities of the PAU, Dr G.S. Nanda, Director of Research of the university, said in order to achieve diversification in agriculture, the PAU was concentrating its efforts on different crops like sugercane and maize. He disclosed that the PAU will soon release new varieties of sugercane and basmati. 

AFFILIATED: National Senior Secondary Public School here has been affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board, according to the Principal of the school, Mr Ved Pritpal Singh.

TARN TARAN
SCRIBE THREATENED: Babloo and five other armed persons of Patti town came to the residence of S.S. Mann, a Harike-based journalist, on Tuesday and threatened him not to publish a news item regarding consumption of drugs in the area. The police has registered a case under Sections 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

CHANDIGARH

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected as office-bearers of the local unit of Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Mr B.K. Nayyar: Mr K.L. Narula and Mr Shyam Lal Aggarwal as vice-presidents, Mr S.K. Kaushik as general secretary, Mr P.N. Kanwar and Mr Mati Chanchal Gambhir as secretaries and Mr Raj Singla as treasurer. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
KISAN DIVAS: A kisan divas function was organised by IFFCO to provide the latest technological developments in agriculture details to farmers at Tandwal village. The function was presided over by Deputy Director Tejpal Saini. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Saini said that looking at the highly competitive international market, farmers would have to undertake agriculture on commercial basis. He said that if farmers adopted scientific methods, then not only will the crop be saved from pests, better output could be achieved at a low cost, a release said.

JIND
LOOTED: Three armed youths looted Rs 3,000 at gunpoint from a motorcyclist and snatched his vehicle near Ghaso village in the district, on Wednesday. According to reports, on receiving the information, the police organised a nakabandi but the accused could not be traced.

SIRSA
MAN KILLED: A young man was killed while his wife was seriously injured in a road accident near Bahmbhoor village in the district on Thursday. According to information the deceased Gurdeep and his wife Baljeet Kaur of Amritsar Khuh village in the district were returning from his in-law’s house at Kanganpur on a motor cycle when a tractor-trolley hit the motor cycle.

HEALTH CAMP: A two-day free health camp will be organised by the Health Department at Kaluana village in the district on Saturday and Sunday. Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, MLA, will inaugurate the camp. This was stated by the Civil Surgeon, Dr S.K. Batta, here on Thursday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CITIZENS ASSOCIATION: An organisation of retired officers and employees, Elder Citizens’ Association, has strongly resented “the failure of the Chief Minister” to increase the medical allowance of pensioners to Rs 250 per month”. The association is also demanding an old-age incentive allowance at five per cent and 10 per cent on completion of 65 and 75 years of age, respectively, in the state’s new budget, according to representation to the Chief Minister.

RESENTMENT: Leaders of various political parties, social and cultural organisations have expressed resentment over an increase in the monthly rent for cable connections from March 1. They demanded that the district administration and the government should immediately intervene in the matter.

CHAMBA
ARMS UNIT UNEARTHED: The police on Wednesday unearthed an unlicensed arms workshop at Pukheda village in the district and arrested its owner, Rasheed Mohammed. According to the police, an unlicensed SBML gun and some gun-manufacturing material were also seized from the accused.

KUMARHATTI
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Dagshai Cantonment unit of the Congress: president — Mr G.S. Sandhu; vice-president — Munni Lal; general secretary — Mr Jatinder Kumar; and treasurer — Praveen Kumar.