R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
FUNCTION: The annual prize distribution function of Shahzada Nanad College for girls will be held on February 22. Mr Surinder Kumar Singla, MLA, will preside over the function. This was stated by Dr Suman Lata, Principal of the college, in a press note here.

COMPETITION: Guru Nanak Dev University is organising an inter-departmental cultural competition, ‘‘jashan-2003’’, for students of the campus on February 21 and 22 at the Dashmesh auditorium. Contests in fine arts, literature and music will be held.

BATHINDA
ONE KILLED: A person was killed when a train hit him near Thermal Plant on Wednesday. The 40-year-old person could not be identified. The postmortem of the body was done at the Civil Hospital on Thursday, after which it was handed over to an NGO, which cremated the body, as there was no claimant for it

ELECTED: Mr Parampal Singh Sidhu and Mr Baljinder Singh Brar have been elected president and general secretary of the Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank Employees Union, respectively.

ALLEGED: Municipal Councillors belonging to the SAD on Monday alleged that they were not taken into confidence before launching “Clean Bathinda” campaign under which the collection of dry garbage would be done with the cooperation of residents. However, the authorities refuted the allegations that any partiality was done while informing the councillors about the launch of “Clean Bathinda” campaign.

GURDASPUR
BAN ORDERS: Mr K.A.P. Sinha, District Magistrate, has issued orders imposing a ban on the movement of the public along the two sides of the railway lines, canals and their distributaries and on the Dhussi bundh of the Beas falling in Gurdaspur district up to the limits of 150 ft. This order will be in operation daily from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. with immediate effect and remain in force up to April 19.

HOSHIARPUR
RALLY: To oppose the anti-labour policies of the state government, the CPM (Pasla) unit will organise a mass rally of labourers and farmers on March 8, at Ludhiana in which more than one lakh workers will participate. This was disclosed by Mr Magat Ram Pasla, state secretary, Punjab unit of the CPM, while addressing a rally of migrant labourers at Shaheed Udham Singh Park here on Monday. Later these workers participated in a rally and went in a procession to the office of the Deputy Commissioner and presented him a memorandum.

SENTENCED: Mr Surjit Singh, Additional Judge, fast Track Court, Hoshiarpur, has sentenced Rashpal Singh to life imprisonment for murdering Swarn Kaur (60) after raping her. He has also fined him Rs 5000. The police had registered a case against Rashpal Singh under Sections 376, 302 of the IPC on the complaint of Raj Kumar, son of the deceased. In his complaint Raj Kumar had alleged that Rashpal Singh had raped and killed his mother.

LUDHIANA
ASIAN CLUB: The Asian Club with the assistance of Win Cable will encourage budding writers by producing a special programme for them. This decision was taken at a meeting of the club held on Wednesday. The MD of the club, Mr Sukhminder Singh ,said students scoring more than 70 per cent marks in plus two and college examinations would be given cash prizes.

GOLDEN JUBILEE: The golden jubilee celebrations of the Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College and Silver jubilee celebration of Nankana Sahib Public School here will commence from February 24. Jathedar Akal Takht Joginder Singh Vedanti will be the chief guest. The celebrations will continue for a year.

KHALSA PANCHAYAT: The Khalsa Panchayat has alleged that the greatest danger to the Sikh community was from those sects which did not believe in Gurbani, 10 Gurus and the practice of langar .Mr Charanjit Singh, convener of the outfit, on Thursday said there was a need to counter the threat to the community from the nefarious designs of the RSS He said the Ludhiana unit had been divided into three units. The district unit would be headed by Mr Gurdev Singh Batalvi, the rural unit would work under Mr Jarnail Singh Khalsa. Bhai Bhupinder Singh Nimana will look after the work in the city unit.

DENTAL CHECK-UP CAMP: A free dental check-up and treatment camp would be organised by Baba Jaswant Singh Dental Hospital at Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha, Urban Estate on February 23. People can avail themselves of free dental check-up, filling, scaling and extraction services.

MEDICAL CAMP: The New Shivpuri Shopkeeper Ekta Club in association with the Vishva Yog Sansthan will organise a free medical check-up camp at Bada Gurdwara, Sarup Nagar Salem Tabri on February 23. Patients will be examined by a team of doctors including Dr J.William, Dr Ramesh, Dr R.K.Mehta, Dr Charnjit Kalra and Dr Rajesh.

EYES DONATED: The eyes of 90 -year- old Harbhajan Kaur, a resident of Talwadi Road, Raikot were donated to Punarjot Eye Bank of Punjab by the relatives of the deceased. Dr Ramesh, Director Eye Bank Mansuran said t the family was motivated by Mr Avtar Singh, a Rotarian.

NSS CAMP: An NSS camp was organised at SDP College for Women on Thursday. The camp was organised under the guidance of the Programme Officer, Ms Sudesh Bhalla, Ms Nivedita and Ms Sunita. Students of Dasham Pita Senior Secondary School planted about 50 saplings during the camp. Ms Darshan Kaur Saini, Principal of the school and Ms S. Verma, Principal of the college, also planted saplings on the occasion.

EYE AND DENTAL CAMP: A free dental and eye camp will be organised at Shrimati Krishna Devi Memorial High School, near Krishna Mandir Chowk, New Kundan Puri, on February 23. The camp will start at 9 am. It is being organised by Bhai Ghanaya ji Sewa Sanstha (regd). Mr Garib Dass, convener and Mr Shamsher Saini, president of the sanstha said Dr Jasbir Singh Kharbandha, Dr Supneet Singh and Dr Manmeet Singh will provide free dental check up, while Dr Manjit Singh, MS , an eye specialist would check eyes of needy patients. Medicines will also be given free of cost at 197th free camp being organised by the sanstha.

FAREWELL FUNCTION: Students of class XI of GTB National Public Senior Secondary School, Dakha, bid farewell to class XII students at an impressive function. The students of outgoing class were cheered by the students and the staff offered best wishes to them. The Principal, Ms Gurpreet Kaur Dhillon, showered her blessings on the students and prayed for their success in examination. 

URGED: Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly, Mr Sat Pal Gosain, has urged the Union Government to dismiss 'immoral' Congress government in the state and put the state under President’s rule. Mr Gosain, who recently returned to the city after an intensive election campaign in Gagret Assembly segment in Himachal Pradesh, observed that the dubious activities of Congress functionaries and alleged involvement of ministers in sex scandal had made the election campaign in HP rather difficult.

CONTESTS: The Punjabi Sahitya Akademi will organise a host of competitions at Punjabi Bhawan on February 21 to mark the International Mother Tongue Day on February 21. Mr Jaswant Zafar, secretary of the akademi said a poetry recitation competition will be organised for college students . Besides this a quiz competition related to Punjabi culture would be the highlight of the function. A written test would be conducted in the morning and four winning teams would participate in the quiz. A poster competition based on mother tongue would also be held. The winners of the competition will be awarded prizes by the president of akademi, Mr Surjit Patar.

DRUG ABUSE: A seminar on drug abuse prevention at divisional level was organised at Seven Overseas Place, about 3 km from Jagraon, by the local administration which was inaugurated by Mr Anurag Aggarwal, IAS, Deputy Commissioner Ludhiana. Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, MP, Ludhiana, Mr Mukhwinder Singh Cheema, SSP, Mr Gurmail Singh SDM and Mr S.N. Tiwari, Civil Surgeon, Mr Jasdev Singh, DSP and Baba Lakha Singh were also present on the occasion. Residents of Jagraon and members of various social organisations also attended the seminar.

SEMINAR: A seminar was organised at Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town, Ludhiana, on Thursday on the topic of “India’s position in the next decade”. Dr A.K. Sehajpal, Reader in Correspondence Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh and Dr S.C. Vaidya, a professor in university Business School, PU, Chandigarh, were the guests of honour. The Principal, Dr Anup Kaur Bansal, welcomed the guests and faculty members of various colleges. Prof Virdi, a retired professor of economics, opened the session by introducing the topic. Dr Vaidya explained that a transition would take place in future from cost-led pricing to price-led costing. “In view of the high proportion of non-value added costs being incurred today, the tomorrow’s costing is going to be target costing and activity based costing. In future a new economics of information is going to come into existence through Internet, he said.

MOUNTAIN DEW LAUNCHED: Pepsi on Wednesday launched its new soft drink Mountain Dew here. Mr DP Singh, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, said this here. Mountain Dew with citrus taste was being made available in green bottles of 200 ml and 300 ml single serve and special 500 ml pet bottles at a price of Rs 6, Rs 9 and Rs 15, respectively.

MISHA CREMATED: Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the funeral of Misha, the only daughter of Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Superintendent, and Dr Harkamal Sidhu, Head of Medicine Department, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, at the Model Town Extension crematorium here on Thursday. Misha died in a road accident in Jammu on Wednesday. Hundreds of people joined in the funeral procession. Dr Waheguru Pal Singh lit the pyre. Misha was a second-year MBBS student at the Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences in Jammu. About 24 of her classmates were also present at the funeral.

MANDI GOBINDGARH
‘DON’T HARASS DOCS’: The authorities should desist from harassing and arresting doctors in case of mishaps during the course of their duty, said Mr Brij Lal Goyal, vice-president, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, in a press note here on Thursday. He added that some amount of risk and complications were always inherent in any kind of treatment and surgery, even in the best circumstances. A doctor could not cure all patients in spite of his best efforts, but this should not be construed as doctors being incompetent or negligent, he asserted.

MANSA
NO ACTION: Land owners of Malakpur Khiala village of the district, whose land was acquired by the state government for setting up the police lines here, are running from pillar to post to get compensation for their land. In a representation to the Chief Minister, Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, the land owners have stated that 324 kanals and 18 marlas were acquired by the state government for the construction of the police lines here and in this regard a notification under the provisions of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1994, was notified on November 24, 1997. Since then, they have been approaching the state government to get compensation, but nothing has been done by the government in this regard.

MOGA
BUSTED: The Moga district police on Thursday claimed to have busted a gang of robbers headed by its kingpin Pragat Singh, a resident of Sarwala, who was involved in several dacoities. It has also seized from their possession certain firearms used in dacoities. This was stated by the SSP, Moga, Major Singh Dhillon, in a press note here.

PATIALA
JAGJIT SINGH: Ghazal Singer Jagjit Singh, who was here to perform at the Patiala Heritage Festival, has accepted the trusteeship of the Harpal Tiwana Foundation. On this occasion, the ghazal maestro urged the government to ensure the growth of Punjabi theatre and cinema.

FOREIGN EXPERTS: A 41-member team from Conventry Business School of Conventry University (UK) visited Punjabi University on Thursday to study the economic development of Punjab. The group interacted with senior teachers of the Economics Department and the Business Management Department and met the Vice-Chancellor, Mr S.S. Boparai. The group said such exchanges would lead to stronger relations between the universities.

TARN TARAN
MEETING: A meeting of elders of 40 villages falling under the local Sadar Police station was organised here which was addressed by Mr Narinder Bhargav, SSP. Mr Bhargav called upon people to join the campaign initiated by the police in this border area against drugs.

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
CONVENTION: Illiteracy among women was responsible for many social evils and if they wanted to bring an end to these evils, they must lay emphasis on their education. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr C.R. Rana, stated this while addressing the annual convention of mahila mandals of the district at the local Patwar Bhawan on Wednesday. The zila parishad chairperson, Ms Kailo Devi, ZP member Suman Siwach, the Programme Officer (ICDS), Ms Asha Setia, and representatives of various mahila mandals were present.

REMANDED: The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr R.N. Bharti, remanded volunteers of the Kurukshetra-based Jan Sangharsh Manch in judicial custody for 14 days in a case relating to a scuffle between the manch workers and followers of a religious sect. The judge also directed the local city police SHO, on an application by Mr H.S. Sandhu, counsel for the mach workers, to seek opinion of the doctors regarding the nature of injuries suffered by sect follower Om Parkash.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KUMARHATTI
BILLS: Telephone subscribers here have decried the poor services of the department. The subscribers have alleged that no statement of accounts was being attached along with the bills forcing them to make payments without having proof of the total amount charged in the bills.