R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
POWER TARIFF: Withdrawal of free power facility provided to farm tubewells from August 1 and to charge tariff from the farmers at the rate of Rs 60 per bhp per month of unmetered and 57 paise per unit of metered supply for tubewells was not good for farmers, said Mr Dalip Singh Pandhi, a former minister, to the mediapersons here on Thursday. The former minister was critical of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who has been trying to defame the Akali leadership in the name of corruption and has given wide publicity to arrest former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his wife and son in corruption case.

BATHINDA
DHARNA: Members of the Tubewell Employees Welfare Union (TEWU) Thursday staged a dharna near the circle office of the department here to demand their meanwhile members of the Diploma Engineers Association has also urged the authorities to pay their salary for September.

FEROZEPORE
SI BOOKED: The local police has registered to case against Gopal Chand, SI, Mamdot, on a complaint lodged by Bohr Singh. Teja Ram was arrested near Mehal village for possessing 2 kg of opium. On interrogation he revealed that the consignment was to be delivered to Bohr Singh. The SI instead of booking Bohr Singh allegedly took Rs 32,000 for keeping him out of the case.

MID-DAY MEAL: Dr BR Banga, Director, Local Government served food to 250 students during the inaugural function of mid-day meal scheme in at Jhanduwala village in Gurharsahai block on Thursday.

KHARAR
DEMANDED: As many as 28 telephone subscribers of Rurki Pukhta village in a letter written to the BSNL SAS Nagar office have alleged that their telephones had been lying out of order since September 28. They have demanded immediate action in this regard.

LUDHIANA
THREAT: “All units of the BJYM will come on the streets in the eventuality of the arrest of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,” said Mr Sukhminder Pal Singh Grewal, chief of the BJYM. Elaborating on the programme, he said all the senior leaders of the unit have been asked to stay in touch with him besides the units at the tehsil, block and village level. They have been asked to ensure complete participation of all the enrolled members, he added. He also revealed that preparations were underway for the visit of BJP chief Venkiah Naidu to Tarn Taran on November 14. 

CELEBRATED: The Niharika Ladies Club celebrated karva-Chauth here on Friday. Ms Dolly Chabra, president of the club, welcomed the members and offered good wishes on behalf of the club. Ms Shaheen, secretary of the club, stressed on the importance of the festival and said on the day of fasting, women pray for the good health and long life of their husbands. The advisory and the executive members exchanged the thalis and sang various songs on this occasion. ‘Dulhan wahi jo piya man bhaye’, a competition was held for the club members. The dulhans walked on the ramp and answered various questions asked by the jury. All the members were given gifts.

SEMINAR: A day-long seminar on history was held on Friday in Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana. The seminar was organised by the History Department of the college. Dr A.C. Arora spoke on “Relevance of techniques of Guru Nanak Dev in modern times.” He emphasised on the importance and applicability of teachings of the first Guru of Sikhs in 21st century. Ms Amrit Walia, Head of the History Department, Khalsa College for Women, also imparted information on the same topic in the afternoon session. An inter-class embroidery contest was also held by the Home Science Department of the college. Ms Manpreet Kaur, Ms Satinder Kaur, and Ms Manpreet Hunjanall, students of BA III year bagged first, second and third prize, respectively.

PENSIONER BODY: The following have been nominated members of the District-level Pensioners Advisory Committee, which would be headed by the Deputy Commissioner while the Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) would be its member secretary.

RECRUITMENT RALLY: A recruitment rally for soldier (general duty) in the Territorial Army (TA) would be held at camping ground, near Jagraon Bridge, here on November 21 and 22, 2002. According to Commanding Officer of 152 Inf Bn (TA), the recruitment will be open to all eligible candidates with educational qualification of Class X, in the age group of 18 to 42 years and from the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The candidates would be required to bring original certificates of matriculation, along with mark sheets, proof of residence, character certificate and six copies of passport size photographs.

DYC INDUSTRY CELL: The chairman of District Youth Congress (Industry Cell), Mr Gagnesh Prabahakar, has nominated the following office-bearers of the district unit : vice-chairmen — Mr Bhupesh Sharma, Mr Bhupinder Shan, Mr Sanjay Bansal, Mr Lalit Goyal, Dr Sandeep Chauhan, Mr Jaswinder Mann, Mr Manish Gupta, Mr Amit Ohri, Mr Taranjeet Singh, Mr Nitin Marjara and Mr Sanjay Gupta; General Secretaries — Mr Vicky Sharma, Mr Rohit Aggarwal, Mr Paramjeet Singh, Mr Ashok Sharma. Mr Rohit Bhateja, Mr Atul Talwar, Mr Pritpal Singh Dhillon, Mr Amit Gupta, Mr Gurpreet Singh, Mr Harsh Kumar and Mr Ravinder Singh Babbu; and secretaries — Mr Tarun Jain, Mr Birbal Rana, Mr Murlidhar Pandey, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Mr Gautam Vashisht, Mr Himanshu, Mr Anshul Jain, Mr Chander Nath, Mr Ranjeet Saini, Mr Mukesh Jindal, and Mr Naresh Sharma.

RANGOLI CONTEST: A rangoli competition was organised in the B.N.M. College of Technical Education at Alamgir on Thursday. Both boys and girls participated in Rango ki rangoli’ The following students won the first prize: Ashwinder Kaur, Vipinjeet Kaur, Gurjit Kaur, Jagpreet Singh and Sukhdeep Singh.

FETE AT WYLIE SCHOOL: Wylie Memorial High School, Brown Road, is holding a mega fete on their school campus on Sunday. The chief guest will be Mr H.S. Hanspal, president of the PPCC.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
STIR THREATENED: The district unit of ministerial staff association at a meeting chaired by Mr Kulwant Singh, president, Fatehgarh Sahib district, has urged the Punjab Government to release the grades of clerical staff according to the recommendations of Fourth Pay Commission to finalise the seniority list, to remove type test condition imposed on the appointees on priority basis, cases of ACP be decided on district level and to release the increments at the stages of 4-9 and 14 years. Releasing the proceedings of the meeting here on Friday, Mr Avtar Singh Azad, press secretary, has stated that teacher-cum-clerks posted in block primary education offices be replaced with clerks and new posts be created for them. In case the government failed to implement the genuine demands, the association will have to adopt the agitational approach, he added. 

MOGA
CARDIAC OPD: The Fortis Heart Institute & Multi-Specialty Hospital is organising a cardiac OPD here in association with the Mittal Hospital & Heart Center, Opposite new Telephone Exchange, Exchange Road on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

PADDY IN MARKET: Traders of grain markets here have complained that several lakh procured bags of paddy are still lying in the markets. The Deputy Commissioner Mr G. Romesh Kumar, said that nearly 60 per cent stocks from the markets had already been cleared while the remaining stocks would be lifted very soon, he said.

PATIALA
COACHING: The IAS and Allied Services Training Centre, Punjabi University, would commence coaching for candidates eligible for taking the CDS examination from November 6. Giving this information, Director of the centre, Dr G.S. Bajwa, said the prospective candidates may apply with requisite testimonials by October 23. The interview for admission would take place on October 29. The SC, OBC and minority community candidates would be provided free coaching and scholarships as per rules.

CHANDIGARH

BOOK ON MATHS: A lecturer in mathematics at St Soldier International Convent Senior Secondary School, SAS Nagar, Mr Baljit Singh, has come up with a book, simplified Approach to Mathematics’. “The book not only gives the basic explanation to mathematical problems but also enriched with all ingredients to make maths as a subject for all,” said Mr Harold Carver, Principal, St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, who was the chief guest at the book promotion party organised at a local hotel on Friday. The book is for students of Class X studying under ICSE board.

HARYANA

BATTERIES STOLEN: Six batteries were found missing from the local Air Force Station Thursday. The batteries had been kept in a locked godown near the aircraft parking area. A complaint in this regard has been made to the police.