R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
BLOOD DONATION CAMP: A blood donation camp was organised at local Shanti Tara College on Wednesday. Dr Indu, SDM, Malerkotla, inaugurated the camp which was sponsored by the Lions Club, Ludhiana. Eighty units of blood were collected by blood bank team of B.L. Kapoor Hospital. While addressing the students and staff of college, Dr Indu, said blood donation was the best charity, which costs nothing but saves the lives of other people. The donors were presented mementoes as a mark of recognition. Mr Amarjit Singh Parag, Director, Mr Arvind Malhotra, secretary of the college, and Mr Balwant Singh Narang, president of the Lions Club, inspired the audience to donate blood.

AMLOH
MC POLL: “Eighteen teams under the supervision of heads of the offices in the sub-division have been constituted for verification of the voters enrolled between September 11 to September 25 for municipal council’s elections in Mandi Gobindgarh. The team will submit their reports by November 7,” stated Mr Amarjeet Singh Shahi, Subdivisional Magistrate-cum-Electoral Registration Officer, Amloh, in a press statement here on Thursday. The elections in 19 wards of the town will be held in January, 2003. According to the press note, objections will be heard on November 8 in the office of the SDM.

GURDASPUR
FEDERATION’S DEMAND: The district unit of the General Category Welfare Federation has given a notice to the District Education Officer (Primary) to cancel the transfer of the general secretary of the union, Mr Arun Kumar, E.T.T. teacher, by November 12, failing which it will start an agitation.

JALANDHAR
WHEAT SENT: The Punjab Government despatched the first rake of wheat to Bikaner as relief package for the drought-affected people of Rajasthan from the local railway station on Wednesday. The rake was flagged off by the Political Secretary to the Chief Minister, Punjab, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi.

KAPURTHALA
STOLEN: Gold ornaments, cash, three foreign-made cameras and other articles worth Rs 3 lakh were stolen from the house of Mr Kanwaljit Singh walia, a senior advocate in the local Germany Dass Park, on Wednesday. According to police reports, the thieves entered the house after scaling the outer wall of the house. The police has registered a case in this connection.

LUDHIANA
MEETING: The Government Primary Teachers’ Association will hold a conference on Friday at 10 a.m. in Punjabi Bhavan to discuss the latest education policy issued by the Punjab Government. This meeting will be attended by educationists, administrators and prominent citizens. The Director, Primary Education, Ms Hardayal Kaur, will also put forward her views. The conference will be inaugurated by Mr Rakesh Pandey, State Minister of Stationery. Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, Member, Lok Sabha, Mr Harnam Dass Johar, former minister, will also attend the meeting.

MEDICAL CAMP: The Bhai Ghanaya Ji Sewa Sanstha will organise its 193rd free medical camp at Ramgarh. Ten specialist doctors would be examining the patients at the camp. Mr Kartar Singh Garib, convener of the sanstha, said the camp will be held on Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm. Medicines free of cost would be distributed to the needy patients. Mr Maohinder Singh Cheema, an NRI, is giving financial assistance for this camp.

FASHION SHOW: The Roots, one of Delhi’s leading Celebrity Management Company, is presenting A fall/winter fashion show titled ‘Grafftti’ on November 7 at City Heart Gardens from 7 pm onwards. The show is being collaborated with the J.D.Institute of Fashion Technology.The fashion show is being held for the first time by The Roots and would showcase collection from award-winning designers.

FOUNDER’S DAY: A week-long celebrations of the Founder’s Day will begin in S.A.N. Jain School from Friday. The competitions held during the week would include rangoli, mehndi, hair styling and flower arrangement competitions. Moreover, science, art and craft exhibition would be held on Saturday. The grand finale will be in the form of Vallabh Darbar to be held on November 6 in the school.

EXHIBITION: BCM School, Ludhiana, will organise an exhibition-cum-sale of designer candles and diyas which have been made by the students and staff of the school. There is also going to be a display of posters made by the students on the theme “Divali without crackers”. The exhibition will be inaugurated at 9.30 am on Friday in the school auditorium.

ORAL CARE: The district branch of the Indian Dental Association in collaboration with Colgate Palmolive (India) has claimed to have covered more than 50,000 schoolchildren under their programme ‘Bright Smiles- Bright Future’. Dr T.P. Singh, President, IDA, Ludhiana, in a press statement on Thursday said the schoolchildren and teachers were taught the scientific way of toothbrushing and motivated to change their dietary habits, which were playing havoc with the teeth of the children. They were also told to shun the use of aerated drinks and junk food like pizzas, cakes, pastries, noodles, etc, and were asked to switch over to consuming fresh fruits and green leafy vegetables.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
CRACKER BAN: The District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Mr Chamel Singh, has banned all types of crackers and fireworks in the district from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. under Section 144 of the IPC till November 5.

HOMAGE PAID: A large number of Congress leaders and activists, led by district Congress president Hoshiar Singh Thakur, assembled at the local party office and paid rich tributes to Indira Gandhi. They observed a two-minute silence.

KUMARHATTI
ROUNDED UP: The Dharampur police has rounded up four persons in connection with a burglary in which cash worth Rs 22000 was stolen from a general merchant shop at Sukhi Jori village, near Dharampur, on Wednesday. The suspects have been identified as Babu Ram, Surender, Dharma and Vachan Singh, all from UP.

SHIMLA
CAMPAIGN: A spokesman for the State Council for Science, Technology and Environment has said an anti-cracker campaign has been launched in Shimla town by the Rotaract Shimla (Midtown) with the assistance of the council in order to discourage environment and noise caused due to emission of polluting gases from crackers. He said 1600 students from schools of the town participated. The spokesman further said a slogan competition would also be organised as part of the campaign and the best entry would be collected from each school on October 31.

 UNA
TRIBUTES PAID : The District Congress Committee (DCC) here paid tributes to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 18th martydom anniversary. Members of the DCC and other party activists garlanded a picture of Indira Gandhi and observed a two-minute silence. DCC president Varinder Dharmani said the Congress was committed to put an end to terrorism.