R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
POLIO DRIVE: As many as 671 teams with 143 supervisors have been established to administer polio drops to about 1.6 lakh kids in the age group of 0-5 on January 5 and February 9. Official sources said here on Tuesday that of the 1,66,067 children this age group, 1,20,860 belonged to the villages of the district and the rest to the city.

ROTARY CLUB: Mr Ramesh Chander Jain has been elected District Governor Nominee (DGN) for Rotary International District 3090 which comprises most of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Mr Rajinder Bansal , district secretary of the club, stated this in a press notice issued here on Tuesday.

GURDASPUR
EXTORTION: The police has booked owners of the Dream World Enterprises in Jalandhar, their involvement in the extortion of huge sums of money on the plea of sending persons abroad. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, in a press note issued here on Tuesday identified the suspects as K.L. Sood, Madan Lal, alias Pappu and Priya, all residents of Jalandhar.

BAN ORDER FLOUTED: The police has arrested Rajiv Kumar, a resident of Pathankot, having a brick kiln at Talwara Gujran and Raj Kumar, a resident of Sanyal, under police station Mukerian in the district Hoshiarpur, having a brick kiln at Talwara Jattan for violating the ban on using soil beyond the Chakki bridge for making bricks.

HOSHIARPUR
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of Punjab Pensioners Welfare Association, Hoshiarpur: president — Mohinder Singh Parwana; general secretary — Mr Kirpal Singh; finance secretary — Mr Baldev Raj Sharma.

CHANNI ANNOUNCES FUNDS: Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, MP, addressed a gathering of sarpanches, panches and members of panchayat, samitis at Pandori Jhawan village about 45 kms from here, on Sunday. He announced Rs 10.60 lakh for the development of villages near here from the MP Local Area Development Fund.

FIRING RANGE: Resentment prevails among the inhabitants of 15 villages viz. Rampur, Bilron, Hajipur, Lehra, Sauli, Birampur, Kot, Khanpur, Shahpur, Sadarpur, Pancori, Bhadiar, Mehandwani, Mehmood and Gajar of Garhshanker sub-division of this district against the proposed firing range in the area. They say it would not only disturb the population also affect their livelihood. In a representation to the Chief Minister, Punjab, sarpanches of these villages have stated that keeping in view the proposed firing range construction activities in these villages have come to a standstill. Inhabitants of these villages, who were engaged in forestry.

BRIBE CASE: The Vigilance Bureau raided the tehsil complex, Dasuya, on Monday and caught Kashmir Singh, an assistant, accepting Rs 2000 from Bhupinder Singh, son of Taranjit Singh of Jaura police station Tanda, for the registeration of his marriage.

JALANDHAR
RECRUITMENT: The Punjab Regimental Centre will organise a rally for the recruitment of soldier (general duty) and tradesmen categories at Gunj stadium in Pathankot from January 2 to 7. For soldier (general duty), Sikh candidates, except Majhabi and Ramdasia, belonging to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, North and North West Rajasthan, Western Utter Pradesh and Chandigarh should appear for screening on January 2 and 3 while Dogra candidates belonging to Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon districts of Haryana should report on January 4 and 5.

THREE ARRESTED: The district police arrested three migrant labourers for attempt to murder a kiosk owner near local Nari Niketan on the Nakodar road on Sunday. The suspects have been identified as Ramesh, Amarnath and Ram Chander. They had allegedly attacked a kiosk owner Dwarka Nath following a brawl.

LUDHIANA
RETIREMENT: Mrs Prem Kanta Brara, a National Awardee teacher who served the Punjab Education Department for 38 years, retired as Principal, Govt. Inservice Training Centre, Ludhiana, on Tuesday.

MUKTSAR
CANCER HOSPITAL: The Adesh Welfare Society on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of Adesh Charitable Cancer Hospital. Dr C.M. Sehgal, specialist, said this would be the first cancer hospital in the Malwa belt. It would be equipped with latest machinery and run on a no-profit-no-loss basis. He said that the project would be completed in three months.

PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED: Mrs Usha R. Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, said here on Tuesday that a survey to know the number of physically challenged people would be held in the district. She said certificates regarding physical disabilities were given every Thursday in the civil hospital and 1381 persons had been issued the same this year. She claimed that 320 physically challenged persons had been registered with the district employment exchange.

PATIALA
HONOURED: The Punjabi University Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research Department Head, Dr Manjeet Singh, has been honoured with the first Naranjan Dhalla Award for his outstanding contribution to Cardiovascular Pharmacology by the Indian Pharmacology Society (IPS). A press note here stated that Prof Manjeet Singh and his colleagues were currently working on Ischaemic Myocardium and had elucidated resident cardiac mast cells as a novel target site to develop new drugs for Ischaemic heart disease. He had earlier focussed on the use of antioxidants in Ischaemia reperfusion induced myocardial injury and cascular endothelium dysfunction.

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
RALLY: The local branch of the Family Planning Association of India organised a rally in collaboration with Milkfed and Child Welfare Council, Punjab, here on Tuesday. The rally, which was organised in connection with the project ‘The Girl Child and Prevention of Female Foeticide’, was flagged off by Ms Rana Harinder, Civil Surgeon, Ropar. More than 200 women from Anganwari training centres took part.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SADBHAVNA RALLY: The crime in society could be controlled to a great extent if the police, the Press and public see eye to eye. This was stated by Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, SP, while addressing a ‘sadbhavna’ rally at Ambala Cantt here on Tuesday. He said the police had taken several steps to check crime in the district. The in charges of various police stations had been directed to treat well the complainants visiting the police stations. He said to check the eve-teasing incidents women constables in plain clothes were deployed near educational institutions and in main bazaars. A campaign against drugs had also been launched.

PRISONER DIES: A prisoner lodged in Ambala Central Jail died on Tuesday morning. The deceased, Om Prakash, was a resident of Gobripur village, near Karnal. He was serving a three-year sentence in a criminal case. According to jail authorities the prisoner had been keeping sick. The body has been sent to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.

ONE KILLED: One person was killed and two others injured when a maxi-cab and a tractor-trailer collided near Kalpi village chowk on the Ambala-Jagadhari road on Monday night. According to the police, Shamsher, travelling in the maxi-cab, died on the spot, while the other two injured have been admitted to the Mulana hospital. The police has registered a case.

RETIRED: Mr S.P. Katyal, Assistant Director (Vigilance) BSNL (HR, Ambala), retired on Tuesday after 41 years of service. He joined the department as Telegraph Operator in 1962, from where he rose in rank. He was part of the team that busted an international illegal call racket at Gurgaon and Shahabad Markanda in Haryana. His farewell party was attended by senior officials of the BSNL at Ambala.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
UNION ACCOUNTS SEALED: The district police chief, Mr Ajay Yadav, told mediapersons that the Chamera Project Workers Union was not registered with the Labour Department. Its accounts with the State Bank of India, Karian branch, had been sealed. Receipt books of the union had been seized. He added leaders like Mr Omkar Shah of the Himachal Pradesh Kissan Sabha of Rampur and Comrade Singha of Shimla were creating hindrance in the progress of the Chamera hydro-electric project. He asserted that hindrance in the national project would not be tolerated.