R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
RELIEF FLAGGED OFF: The former Minister of External Affairs and MP, Mr R.L. Bhatia, on Saturday flagged off a truckload of relief material for Kashmiri migrants living on camps in Jammu. The relief material included blankets, woolles, suits shawls, jackets, atta and rice.

MEDICAL CAMP: The management of Parvati Devi Charitable Hospital organised a free medical check-up camp. Senior doctors from various specialities examined more than 300 patients and offered medicines free of cost.

COURSES INTRODUCED: Interview-cum-admission to one-year textile designing course for unemployed girls and one year radio and TV training course for unemployed boys will be held on August 7 and 8, respectively. The unemployed girls and boys in the age group of 15 to 35 years are eligible for admission to these courses and can submit their applications by July 29.

INAUGURATED: While inaugurating a three-week refresher course in education for university and college teachers, Prof A.N. Maheshwari, National Council of Teachers’ Education, New Delhi, emphasised the use of information technology to make the teaching learning process better.

INVITED: Prof Jai Rup Singh, coordinator of the Centre for Genetic Disorders Guru Nanak Dev University, has been invited to join the ‘team India’ initiated by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the Government of India.

BARNALA
PROTEST MARCH: Teachers, students and the employees working in universities, colleges and schools will hold a protest march in New Delhi on August 13 in protest against the anti-education and wrong education policies of the NDA government.

GURDASPUR
SAPLINGS PLANTED: The District Environmental Society planted more than 100 saplings of decorative trees at Gahlari village on Friday. The Divisional Forest Officer talking to this correspondent said the district had fixed a target of planting more than 1.5 lakh trees in the district.

MALERKOTLA
SUICIDE: Jaggu Singh, son of Jeet Singh and resident of Momnabad village, committed suicide on Saturday. According to the police the cause behind the suicide is not known. It has registered a case.

ELECTROCUTED: Bikar Singh, a resident of Rerike village, was electrocuted on Wednesday. According to information, Bikar Singh was working in the fields and while operating the tubewell he was electrocuted.

CHEMISTS HELD: The Police has arrested four chemists on the charge of selling intoxicants. According to DSP Rajbacchan Singh Sandhu, the police had arrested Harvinder Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Raj Kumar and Ramesh Kumar. A large number of intoxicants had been recovered from their shops. A case under Sections 5A, 9 of the Drugs Control Act 1950, 15 and 420 of the IPC has been registered.

MUKTSAR (CHAK VADHAI)
EXHORTED: Ms Usha R.Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, on Friday exhorted villagers to participate in various development schemes launched by the government. Speaking at a driving licence camp here she said with the participation of residents the development schemes would be more beneficial to them. A dental check-up camp was also organised on the occasion. 

NABHA
SUSPENDED: The Sarpanch of Todarwal village has been suspended under the Panchayati Raj Act. During the Akali-BJP government she is understood to have misused government funds worth Rs 2 lakh. Despite repeated search warrants issued by the local SDM, she did not produce the relevant record.

PATHANKOT
KILLED: The police has booked five persons for allegedly killing, Jatinder Kumar, a resident of Rampura Mohalla. According to an FIR lodged by Mr Kewal Krishan, father of the victim, his son Jatinder had illicit relations with a girl of the same mohalla. The parents of the girl objected to the relationship. He stated that on Thursday night the accused killed his son with sharp-edged weapons. The accused have been identified. The police has registered a case under Sections 302, 148, 149 of the IPC.

PHAGWARA
RECOVERED: A three-year-old boy, Happy, who has been missing since July 12 from the local bus stand, was recovered by the police and restored to his parents on Friday. The child had come with his parents from Fatehgarh Sahib. He reportedly got lost at the bus stand. He was traced at Langri village in the Mahilpur area.

TARN TARAN
ARRESTED: The Tarn Taran police has arrested three persons, including the father-in-law and the brothers-in-law of Baldev Singh (30), who was found hanging from a tree in Bua village in Tarn Taran on September 4, 2000. Mr Narinder Bhargav, district police chief, said the case, which was earlier closed, was reopened on a complaint of Mr Tara Singh, father of the deceased, who had alleged that his son was killed by his in-laws.

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
PHONE EXCHANGE: Mr Pritpal Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL, laid the foundation stone of telephone exchange building in Sector 70 here on Sunday. The exchange will be built at the cost of about Rs 90 lakh and will cater to the needs of subscribers of Sector 70 and adjoining areas apart from improving the efficiency of services.

HARYANA

AMBALA
STRIKE ENDS: The hunger strike by farmers at the Adhoya power house ended on Sundaywith the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala Mr D.D. Gautam, offering them juice. The farmers had been on strike for the past two days to press for regular power supply. The Deputy Commissioner said power situation would improve once the Jodianwala power house became functional.

JE ASSAULTED: A junior engineer was allegedly assaulted by farmers near Matheri Jattan village on Saturday night. The JE has claimed that he accompanied a patrolling party for the supply line. Near the village, a farmer told them to rectify a fault at his tubewell. When he expressed his inability to correct the fault at that point of time, the farmer and a few others forcibly took him to the tubewell where he was allegedly beaten up.

BHIWANI
SUICIDE: A girl committed suicide by consuming poison at Jatai village on Thursday. According to sources, two youths tried to molest the girl. Frightened by the incident she consumed poison. She was taken to Civil Hospital in serious condition where the doctor declared her brought dead.

OPEN AIR THEATRE: Member of Parliament Ajay Singh will lay the foundation stone of an open air theatre on the premises of Bal Bhavan here on Sunday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Harpal Singh, said the theatre would be constructed by the District Child Welfare Council. Mr Ajay Singh would also lay the foundation stone of a drinking water scheme.

FATEHABAD
KISAN CARDS: The local branch of the State Bank of Patiala has issued 114 kisan cards to farmers during the current kharif crop season. The branch manager, Mr R.B. Bansal and the field officer, Mr R.K. Singla, informed mediapersons here on Saturday that over Rs 1.06 crore had been disbursed among farmers under the Kisan Card Scheme during the current kharif crop season.

HISAR
GIRL DROWNED: A six-year-old girl, Guddi, drowned in a pond in the nearby Pabra village on Friday. She had gone to the village pond along with her uncle when she suddenly slipped into the water. Villagers standing near the pond took the girl out from the pond and admitted her to a private hospital in Barwala, but she died after some time.

LIQUOR DEATHS: Two persons died after they consumed excess liquor in Hansi town, about 26 km from here, the police said on Saturday. The victims, identified as Raj Kumar, (40) and Main Baba (60) from Chennai, were working as labourers. The two consumed liquor before going to sleep on Friday night and were found dead the next morning.

YAMUNANAGAR
LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club, Yamunanagar-Jagadhri for 2002-03: president — Lion Varinder Arora; first vice-president — Lion Vinod Jalotra; second vice-president — Lion Luxmi C. Puri; third vice-president — Lion Narender Seth; secretary — Lion Tajinder Bhatia; and treasurer — Lion S.P.S. Jassal.

TARGET FIXED: Government departments have to achieve a fixed target of planting saplings and any department which succeeds in achieving the target of not only planting the saplings but also succeeds in protecting and nourishing a fixed number of plants would be given Rs 1000 as cash prize and the entry to this effect would be made in their annual confidential reports, said Mr Vijayender Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, after planting a sapling at old Tehsil on Friday.

NEW BUS SERVICE: A new bus service between Yamunanagar and Rudrapur (Nainital) will be started soon. Mr Vijayender Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Saturday that Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar depot had earned profit of Rs 3.49 lakh as compared to a profit of Rs 1.44 lakh during the corresponding month last year.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MURDERED: Ramesh, a resident of Sadiana village in Theog tehsil, was hacked to death allegedly by the family members of his uncle. According to the police Bhupinder Singh, Jeet Ram, Vimla Devi, Om Prakash and Kewal Singh, all relatives of the accused, were involved in the murder. Jeet Ram and Vimla Devi had been arrested , the police said. The murder followed an altercation between the two families over the construction stair.