R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AHMEDGARH
PROBE SOUGHT: The FCI Punjab Food Agency Workers Palledar Union (Azad) has demanded a probe into the allegations of corruption against the Assistant Manager of the local FCI unit, Mr K.L.Verma, who was not implementing certain orders of the DM for some vested interests. In a joint press statement issued here on Thursday, Mr Karam Deol, president and Mr Shinna Khan, cashier of the labour union said the Assistant Manager had not started disbursing the wages through cheque as directed by the District Manager. They alleged that the Assistant Manager was even deducting money from the incentives and was delaying their salary payments for more than three weeks.

AMRITSAR
DHARNA: Mr Gurudas Das Gupta, a former MP, while addressing members of labour organisations, including the AITUC, CITU, INTUC and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, said here on Wednesday, that labourers from all over the country would stage a dharna in front of Parliament on February 26.

GRANT: Mr R.L. Bhatia, MP, has given a grant of Rs 50,000 for the construction of a women’s hostel by the All-India Women’s Conference, a society for the uplift of women and environmental reform. Ms Ranjit Chatha and Ms Rajni Bhrany, president and executive member, respectively, gave this information in a press note issued here on Wednesday.

PULSE POLIO: More than 2,000 teams have been formed for the second phase of the Intensified Pulse Polio Programme (IPPI), scheduled to be held on February 9. The teams would visit various slum areas, besides rural and urban areas, said Dr K.K. Sharma, Civil Surgeon, while talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday.

OBSERVATORY: A local urban observatory has been established in the Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, by the National Urban Observatory. Prof Ranvinder Singh Sandhu would be the coordinator of the observatory, a press note, issued here on Wednesday, said.

SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN: Mr R. Bindra, president, Sikh Lawyers Association and convenor, Sikh Chintak Manch, in a signature campaign has urged the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to abolish the death sentence of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar. About 100 persons have signed the letter.

FARIDKOT
POSTPONED: The election of the chairman of the Zila Parishad was postponed till February 11 here on Wednesday, following the unavailability of the required quorum. According to Dr Harkesh Singh Sidhu, ADC and Assistant District Returning Officer, only one member, Mr Kuldip Singh, out of 10 Zila Parishad members, and chairmen of the Faridkot and Kotkapura block samitis attended the meeting.

GURDASPUR
ARRESTED: The police on Thursday arrested Om Parkash, a resident of Kothe Panditan, and seized 1 kg of charas from his possession. SSP Varinder Kumar said the charas was the part of a 5-kg consignment which the accused, along with Naresh Kumar, a resident of Sri Hargobindpur, had brought from Srinagar. A case under Section 20/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.

LUDHIANA
PROUD STUDENT: Rishabh Singla of DAV Public School here had the privilege of witnessing the Republic Day Parade in Delhi from the Prime Minister’s box. This honour was conferred upon him as he had topped in three subjects in the CBSE X standard examination conducted in March 2002. At least 55 students from all over the country on the basis of their respective academic excellence were given the chance.

ORGAN TRANSPLANT: The district unit of the All-India Youth Federation while condemning the organ transplant has demanded changes in the laws governing the organ transplant. Mr Kuldeep Singh Binder, president and Mr Vijay Kumar, general secretary of the federation in a press statement on Thursday said only genetically related persons should be allowed to be a party to the transplant. Members also appealed to the IMA to formulate code of ethics for all medical practitioners so that people’s confidence in the profession was restored. They said doctors should not be made the scapegoat officers, politicians and other influential persons involved should also be pinned down.

MAHOTSAV: A “Maryada Mahotsav” function will be held on Sunday to create awareness among people to discard social evils by the Panth Dharm Sangh Sabha, Mr Hari Om Jain, organiser of the function told mediapersons here on Thursday. The function will be inaugurated by Muni Shri Abhay Kumar and presided over by Dr Harbans Lal, Forest Food and Civil Supplies.

DHARNA: The Pendu Mazdoor Union organised a dharna near the local SDM office to protest against the imposition of electricity charges on the poors and withdrawal of pension to disabled widow and old persons. They demanded the immediate withdrawal of the order.

MAAN’S VISIT: Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, National President of the Lok Bhalai Party, visited Lr DAV College on Thursday along with Harbhajan Maan film actor. Addressing students he spoke against evils of dowry, drugs, and corruption. He wanted the youths to join his party and to shun dowry demand and drugs. Harbhajan Maan decried the lower standard of the Punjabi films and promised to produce one Punjabi film a year like “Jee Aiyan nu.” They also visited Government Science and Research College, Jagraon.

DANG’S REMARK FLAYED: The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has flayed the statement of Communist leader, Sat Pal Dang, against the association regarding the amendments in the Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Act (HOTA) 1994. The members said it was unfortunate that Mr Dang tried to tarnish the image of the PCMSA, which was against this inhuman kidney trade. Dr Hardeep Singh, state unit president and Dr Ajay Bagga, press secretary of the PCMSA said the association members had urged the high level committee constituted under the Chief Secretary, for preparing fresh guidelines concerning organ transplantation to hold wider consultations with the representatives of medical as well as social organisations before submitting its final draft. Dr Hardeep said the idea mooted by Mr Dang to maintain a list of voluntary donors was also hypothetical, as it could not check the exploitation of poor. Public awareness programme to change attitude of relatives of patients and amendments to the Organ Transplantation Act,1994 was needed. The members said that they held Mr Dang in high esteem and Mr Dang should have clarified the issue with the representatives of PCMSA.

DEATH MOURNED: Minister of State for Printing and Stationery, Rakesh Pandey has urged the youth to seek inspiration from space scientist and astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who was killed in a tragic crash recently. Addressing a function organised by the Youth Congress leader Mr Sunil Dutt in her memory said, it was quite unfortunate that she did not survive long enough to achieve far more greater heights. He hailed the decision of the Government of India to name satellites in her memory.

EX-ADC BEREAVED: Indu Darshi, the wife of Mr A.R. Darshi, a retired Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), died of prolonged illness this week. She was suffering from a heart ailment. She was 62. The bhog ceremony will be held on February 9 at the Sarabha Nagar Gurdwara.

MUSHAIRA: The Punjab Writers Forum will organise a trilingual mushaira in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre at Bhasha Bhavan on Sunday. The function would be inaugurated by Dr Kewal Krishan, Speaker, of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Participants would include Surjit Patar, Janab Jigar Jalandhari and Dr Nasir Naqvi, among others. The poems recited on the occasion would be published in a book form.

HARYANA

AMBALA
GREEN OLYMPIAD: Suresh Dash, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, has secured merit position in the Green Olympiad organised by the Tata Energy Research Institute. The school Principal, Dr O.D. Sharma, said Suresh Dash stood first in the school, first in the city and 29th in the state in the Green Olympiad. Nineteen students from the school had participated in the contest under the guidance of Mr Sanjeev Kumar.

JOB CRUNCH: The Financial Commissioner, Mr Prem Prashant, said here on Thursday that the Employment Department was going to tackle unemployment problem through redefined objectives. He said unemployed youths registered with various employment exchanges in the state and students of various schools, colleges, universities and training institutions would be imparted realistic vocational guidance and employment counselling. In order to make the counselling more meaningful and effective, extensive surveys would be conducted in each district to identify new occupations, which would be classified according to the National Classification of Occupations, a release said. 

HISAR
ACCIDENT: Bharat Singh (60) was killed and three others were injured seriously in a road accident at Hansi, about 25 km from here, on Wednesday. The injured have been admitted to the civil hospitals at Hansi and Hisar. A case has been registered in this connection.

INJURED: Three persons were injured in a road accident at Gabipur village, about 45 km from here, on Wednesday. The injured have been admitted to a private hospital at Barwala. According to the police, a truck hit a stationary bus at the village bus stop, resulting in injuries to three bus passengers. The police has registered a case against the truck driver.

HELD: The police arrested Balbir Singh of Dhani Siswal village and seized a .315 bore pistol and three live cartridges from him on Thursday.

PROCESSION: Several milkmen of nearby villages held a procession in front of the office of the Tehsildar at Hansi, near here, on Wednesday in support of their demands. They also submitted a memorandum to the Tehsildar. They alleged that were not being paid a “fair price” for the milk.

JUDICIAL REMAND: A local court on Wednesday remanded four persons to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with a rape case. According to the police, Giani Ram, Balbir Singh, Roshan Lal, residents of Kanoh village, and Khajan Singh of Mirchpur village had raped a girl after abducting her from Satrod village, last week.