R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATALA
DHARNA: Employees of the Municipal Council, Dhariwal, have been on strike for the past fortnight over the non-payment of salaries for over five months. They alleged that the funds released by the government for their salaries were disbursed to contractors as “commission”. The employees have been staging a dharna near the bus stand everyday.

KAPURTHALA
BIRTH ANNIVERSARY: The birth anniversary of Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, founder of Kapurthala and a great Sikh general, was celebrated at a local gurdwara on Friday. A kirtan darbar in his memory will be organised at the gurdwara on May 11.

SENTENCED: Mr Gurdev Singh, Sessions Judge, on Friday sentenced Mohan Singh, a tantrik, to life imprisonment and fined him Rs 10,000 for beating to death Jaswant Singh of Dalla village on the pretext of freeing him from an evil spirit.

ELECTION SET ASIDE: Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Presiding Officer, District Election Tribunal, on Thursday set aside the election of Mr Davinder Singh, an Akali leader, as sarpanch of Dhapai gram panchayat. His opponent Buta Singh, whose candidature had been rejected, had filed an election petition before the tribunal in this regard, which was accepted.

LUDHIANA
SHOBHA YATRA: Shri Shiv Shakti Mandir Dharamarth Trust, Kidwai Nagar, took out a shobha yatra here on Friday in connection with its 19th annual idol installation ceremony. The main attractions of the yatra were the ‘kalash’ yatra by 108 women and tableaux depicting Radha and Krishna. Earlier, the yatra was inaugurated by Mr Manohar Lal Narang and the flag was hoisted by Mr Sudershan Gosian, president of the temple management committee. A number of temples were also inaugurated on the occasion.

PRAYERS: Shri Rattan Muni ji would offer his prayers to the first ‘Tirathnkar’ of the Jain religion, Bhagwan Arishabh Dev, at Baba Gajja Jain Colony in Moti Nagar on Sunday from 6 am to 7 am, according to a spokesman for the organising committee.

RELIGIOUS PROGRAMME: Shri Govind Godham will organise an evening dedicated to Radha and Govind in front of the Shri Govind Godham Radha Swami Satsang Bhavan in Greater Kailash on the Humbran road on Sunday, according to the management here on Saturday. Vinod Aggarwal from Mumbai and Baldev Krishan would hold a kirtan darbar at 8 pm. The evening is being organised to raise funds for building a Radha-Govind temple.

DISCUSSION: The Preet Sahitya Sadan, an organisation dedicated to art and culture and service to humanity, at a meeting held at their centre in Jamalpur arranged a discussion on, “Chintan ke Pal”. The members deliberated on steps to stop brain drain specially of the medical fraternity. The chairman of sadan, Mr Rajesh Sharma said every year around 5,000 to 6,000 intellectuals left the country, causing a loss of around $ 13 million.

IDA MEETING: The Indian Dental Association in its endeavour to promote continuing dental education amongst dental professionals, will hold a general body meeting on Sunday at Baron. Dr T.P.Singh, president of the local unit of IDA, in a press note on Saturday said the meeting would be held for students of B.J.S.Dental College, Christian Dental College and members of the IDA. He said Dr Vimal Sikri will talk about the management of decayed and mutilated teeth with the help of pins and other retentive devices. The lecture will help doctors to build and restore broken and decayed teeth with “complex restorations”.

TRAINING: Five staff members of the Aas Kiran De-addiction-cum-Rehabilitation Centre, a wing of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, have recently undergone a special training in drug de-addiction counselling and HIV/AIDS prevention at the National Institute of Social Defence, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi. The members who underwent training were: Prof Sarabjeet Singh, director, Social and Health Services Directorate, Mr Jasbir Singh, associate director, Principal Ravail Singh, project director, Dr Deepinder Singh, medical officer, and Mr Navdeep Singh, field counsellor for AIDS patients.

ANNUAL DAY: Kendriya Vidalaya, Baddowal, celebrated the annual day of the school here on Friday. The programme began with Saraswati Vandana followed by distribution of prizes to students who excelled in academics and co-curricular activities. Rajasthani dance, Naga dance, national integration dance, Punjabi play, action song by tiny tots, gidha and bhangra were some of the attractions of the programme. Col R.S. Dhillon, Commandant 17 FAD and Chairman VMC, was the chief guest. Mr R.L. Anand, Principal, congratulated the prize winners.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
PROTEST: Traders and industrialists sat on a dharna in Loha Bazar on Friday and organised a protest march up to municipal council office, where a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, was handed over to Mr Sukhwinder Singh Bhambri, president, and Mr Lachhman Singh Saini, executive officer of the Municipal Council, expressing resentment on the reintroduction of octroi.

MOGA
FIRE: Dry fodder along with harvested wheat worth lakhs got burnt at Phulewala village under Baghapurana police station in the district on Friday. According to reports, the victims in a complaint lodged with the police have reportedly stated that certain persons having enmity with them have set the crop on fire.

CONDEMNED: A meeting of the members of the Moga Bar Association held here on Saturday condemned the police for not registering a case against those involved in the manhandling of their colleague Atma Singh, an advocate. It said the police not only misbehaved with him but also tortured him and registered a case against him.

NAWANSHAHR
MEMORANDUM: The local Punjab PWD (B&R) Ministerial Services Association, the PWD Mulazam Union and the PWD Non-Gazetted Employees Union in a memorandum submitted to the local MLA, Mr Parkash Singh, and Deputy Commissioner here on Friday stated that because of non-allotment of development works of the district to the office, the district which came into being in 1995, was lagging behind in infrastructural development.

PATIALA
INSPECTED: Vendors and shopkeepers found selling rotten and unripe fruits and vegetables had to dispose off their substandard stock following inspection by a team from the Civil Surgeon’s office led by the Civil Surgeon, Dr Inderjit Kaur Walia. The team comprised the Assistant Health Officer, Dr Daljit Singh, District Epidemiologist, Dr Sampooran Singh and other members. It inspected rehris selling fruits and vegetables in various parts of the city. The vegetable and fruit shops were also inspected at Phatak number 22, Bhupindra Road, Model Town, Bhadson Road, Anand Nagar, Tripuri Town and Sirhind Road areas here on Saturday. The officials also apprised the vendors and shopkeepers of the potential health hazards posed by over-ripe fruits and vegetables.

OFFICIALS DIRECTED: Deputy Commissioner Tejvir Singh has directed all officers to submit the report on the action taken on the complaints of public in time so as to save the complainants from the botheration of approaching the administration repeatedly. He was addressing officials at Red Cross Bhavan after listening to the complaints of public.

SANGRUR
FOUNDER’S DAY: The local General Gurnam Singh Public School celebrated its founder’s day on Friday. Mr C.S. Srivastava, Commissioner, Patiala division, presided over the function and inaugurated an exhibition on soft toys, fabric paintings, cotton toys, earthen pots and scientic models etc., prepared by students.

HARYANA

SIRSA
ROBBED: Pankaj Mehta of New Mandi Dabwali on Friday was robbed of Rs 10 lakh withdrawn from a bank at gunpoint near Kabir Chowk by two young men riding a scooter. Angry traders shut down shop. In another incident, Purshottam and Sat Pal were fired upon while they were going in a car. Both were injured in the shootout.