R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
STONE LAID: Mahant Ganga Puri of the Arnai Sangmeshwar Seva Dal laid the foundation stone of Shiv Mandir at Murararu village, near here, on Thursday. Later, Mr Sadhu Singh Dhramsot, MLA, Amloh, addressed the gathering. Mr Shiv Kumar Garg and Mr Baljeet Singh were present, among others.

DERA BASSI
JAWAN CREMATED: The body of BSF jawan Mewa Singh, who died because of malaria and jaundice while deployed at a forward post in Agartala in Tripura on January 12 evening, was cremated with full state honours in his village, Devi Nagar, here on Thursday. A company of the BSF headed by Onkar Nath Sharma, accompanied the body of Sub-Inspector Mewa Singh to the village. Deputy Commandant from BSF Headquarters (Border Range) Lakhvir Singh Randhawa laid a wreath on the body. Mr Sanjiv Garg, Tehsildar, laid a wreath on behalf of the local civil administration.

GURDASPUR
BOOKED: The police has booked Rama Devi, wife of Sahib Dayal, a resident of a colony near the railway station here, for cheating Ramesh Rani, widow of late Constable Jagdish Raj, by extorting Rs 1 lakh for getting the latter’s son recruited in the Government Railway Police (GRP) in place of her deceased husband. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, on Wednesday said Ramesh Rani complained to this office that she paid sum of Rs 50,000 on June 12, 2001, and another Rs 50,000 on July 15, 2001, to the accused. A case under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 506, IPC has been registered against the accused.

SMUGGLING: The police on Tuesday arrested Pawan Kumar, a resident of Chack Phool Piara under Sujanpur police station, for smuggling of illicit liquor from Chhanni Beli village in Himachal Pradesh and recovered 60,000 ml of illicit liquor from his possession. Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, on Wednesday said the police had registered a case under Section 61\1\14, Excise Act, at police station Division No. 1, Pathankot.

BETTER HEALTH CARE: Mr Budh Singh Dhahan, founder of the NRI-sponsored Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Education Trust, Dhahan Kaleran which runs a 300-bedded hospital with ultra-modern medical facilities, a nursing college having collaboration with the University of British Columbia, an English-medium senior Secondary School and a de-addiction centre, at a press meeting here on Wednesday disclosed that during his visits to the USA and Canada recently he had addressed a number of Punjabis living there.

LUDHIANA
FUNCTION: The Gulistaan-e-Adab, a literary club, in collaboration with the Divshree Mission organised a ‘mushaira’ here on Sunday. Dr G.S. Mann, Bakhshi Ram Kaushal and Jagan Nath Jain were resent, among others. D.K. Sachdeva compered the show.

MANSA
CASE REGISTERED: The Budhlada police has registered a case under Sections 307, 336, 452, 342, 506, 323 and 34 of the IPC read with Section 25\54\59 of the Arms Act against Balwinder Singh and Major Singh, both residents of Budhlada in the district. Both accused were arrested by the police and produced on Wednesday before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Mansa, Ms Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, who remanded them to judicial custody till January 29.

MARTYR’S KIN: Mr Balwinder Singh Kaka, newly appointed president of the state unit of the All-India Anti-Terrorism Front ( AIATF), talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday disclosed that the AIATF would organise a programme at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on January 27. Families of martyrs who had sacrificed their lives in the Kargil war and Parliament, Akshardham and Jammu temples attacks would also be honoured, he added.

MOGA
DROWNED: An aged woman with a weak eye-sight drowned in a village pond at Manga village in the district on Wednesday. According to reports, she was on way to the village gurdwara when due to the dense fog she fell into the tank.

PATIALA
ORIENTATION COURSE: A group of 22 students of Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Punjabi University, will participate in an orientation course in TV production techniques at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, from January 20 to 25. The students will be accompanied by two teachers and technical assistants of the department. The head of the department, Prof Navjit Singh Johal said the course would cover various topics, including screen grammar, video editing and mixing, TV sound, script writing and graphics, single camera and multi camera production techniques. He said the students would be awarded certificates which would help them in getting absorbed in electronic media organisations. Prof Johal said the varsity had already sanctioned Rs 50,000 for the course which the FTII was charging as fee for the six-day course. He said it was for the first time that students were getting such an opportunity to get high-level practical experience at an esteemed institution.

PHAGWARA
STORE GUTTED: A multi-storeyed beauty store belonging to Satish Kumar Sharma and situated in the local Bansawala Bazar was gutted on Wednesday night. Two fire tenders from Jalandhar took four hours to control the fire. The furniture, goods and building were reduced to ashes in the devastating fire. The cause of fire could not be ascertained.

SAMRALA
HONOURED: A function was organised at Gehlewal village by the Milk Cooperative Society here today. Milk producers participated in the function. Mr Harbhagat Singh, inspector of the society, distributed prizes. Mr Jagpal Singh, Mr Sickander Singh and Mr Balwinder Singh won first, second and third prizes, respectively.

HARYANA

AMBALA
LAURELS FOR STUDENTS: Two students of Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantonment, have bagged gold medals in a state-level karate meet. While Deepak Samwal bagged gold medal in 40 kg category, Pankaj Dogra bagged gold medal in 36-40 kg category at the karate meet held in Jhajjar. The students also participated in nationals held in Aurangabad, a release said.

CRITICISED: MLA Pawan Kumar Dewan on Thursday criticised the demonstration held by the Congress over the SYL issue in Delhi. Mr Dewan said the Congress has not told the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to complete the Punjab portion of the SYL. He said the Centre’s role would have begun after January 15 but the Congress activists did not even wait. He said it would have been better if the Congress persons would have held demonstration outside the residence of the Congress president in Delhi, a release said.

HISAR
2 GET LIFE TERM: District and Session Judge Arvind Kumar Goyal on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to two brothers, Ram Niwas and Phool Kumar, of Mirzapur village, near here, on the charge of murdering Uday Bhan of the same village. They have also been fined Rs 2,000 each and in case of non-payment of fine they will further undergo imprisonment for three months. On January 1, 2001, both brothers had attacked Uday when he was going to his field. The fatally wounded victim succumbed to his injuries on way to the hospital.

KARNAL
DENTAL CAMP: About 95 per cent population of India, both in rural as well as urban areas, have been found to be suffering from gum diseases, according to a survey. This was disclosed at a dental health care programme organised at the HAP Complex, Madhuban, by Dr M.L. Bansal, in charge of the police hospital at Madhuban. Dr Bansal further disclosed that the main cause of the dental diseases was unproper cleaning of teeth. He maintained that chocolates, toffees and sugar were the enemy of the teeth. The programme was organised by the Sanjivana Society headed by Mr S K Jain, commandant of 5th Battalion of the HAP.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
UNEMPLOYED: A total of 65,717 youth, including 926 handicapped persons and 1002 ex-servicemen, have been registered as unemployed and job-seekers at the District Employment Office, Bilaspur, and sub-employment offices at Ghumarwin and Naina Devi uptil now. District Employment Officer Krishan Kumar said here on Wednesday that only 295 youth out them could get employment during 2002.