R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
PAINTINGS ON DISPLAY: A week-long exhibition of water colours paintings by EK Raj was inaugurated at the Central Hall of the Fine Arts Gallery here on Friday. The artist recently held exhibition in Rajasthan and Delhi also. The exhibition would continue till May 15. Mr Avtar Singh sculptor and president of the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, general secretary, Rajinder Mohan Singh China and others were present on the occasion.

INAUGURATED: A computerised branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) was inaugurated at Attari by Mr H.M. Sood, Regional Manager on Friday. Speaking on the occasion Mr Sood said that three branches of city had already been connected under Computerised branch system and other two branches would be connected soon.

FARIDKOT
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab Government Drivers and Technical Employees Union, Faridkot district: chairman — Mr Diwan Singh; president — Mr Gurdev Singh Gill; senior vice-president — Mr Partap Singh; vice-president — Mr Hukma Ram; general secretary — Mr Banwari Lal; treasure — Mr Kulwant Singh and chief adviser — Mr Harbans Singh.

PLOTS DISTRIBUTED: Under the state government programme to provide houses to the landless Mr A. Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot, distributed 47 plots, measuring about 5 marlas, at Saidoke village in this district on Saturday. He said a grant of Rs 20,000 under the Indra Awas Yojna will also be provided to each beneficiary for the construction of the houses. 

HOSHIARPUR
RED CROSS FUNCTION: A World Red Cross Day function was held at J.R. Government Polytechnic by the District Red Cross Society here on Thursday. Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, said here that Red Cross members would educate people on AIDS. The Society provided 50 tricycles, 20 wheelchairs and 10 sewing machines to the needy persons.

CAMP FOR DISABLED: A special camp to identify handicapped persons at Dasuya 40 km from here was held on Friday. More than 700 handicapped persons attended the camp. Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, said that 1700 handicapped persons participated in three Subdivision level camps in the district and Rs 6 lakh would be spent to provide them with artificial limbs. Mr Bhagat Singh, Financial Commissioner Revenue Punjab, said that the state government was trying to rehabilitate handicapped through various means.

CHEQUES GIVEN: Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister of Animal Husbandry and Sports, Punjab, distributed cheques for Rs 10,000 each to those eight families living below the poverty line who had recently lost their bread winners under the National Benefit Scheme at Mahilpur on Thursday evening.

HEALTH SCHEME: Brig Rajan Anand, Commander, Arty Bde, inaugurated the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme here on Friday. Brigadier Anand said the scheme envisaged medicare for all ex-servicemen and their dependents. Hoshiarpur had been chosen for setting up one of the 227 polyclinics nationwide under the scheme.

INAUGURATED: Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, on Thursday inaugurated Shri Bhagwan Charitable Homoeopathic dispensary at Bahadurpur Gate. This dispensary has been set up by the Sadhu Seva Munshi Ram Sud Board of Trust for the benefit of the poor.

JALANDHAR
POLL ARRANGEMENTS: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta on Friday held a meeting of senior civil officials discussed holding of forthcoming panchayat elections, scheduled for June 29. He said that the notification for the election would be issued on June 16, and nominations could be filed by June 19. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be carried out on June 20 and last date of withdrawal will be June 21, he added. Nearly eight lakh voters will elect 883 panchayat representatives in the district.

LUDHIANA
ELECTED: Mr N.S. Nanda has been re-elected as the president of the Bhadaur House Market Association for the VIII the term at its annual general body meeting. Other office-bearers who were elected unanimously included Baba Ajit Singh — patron, Mr Jagdish Anand — chairman, Mr Gopal Syal — senior vice-president, Mr Madan Lal Madi — vice-president, Mr Vinod Madan — general secretary, Mr Devinder Batra — finance secretary, Mr Pramod Gupta — joint secretary; and Parshotam Batta, Vinod Bansal, Balwinder Singh, Wang Jenn and Balbir Singh as executive members. 

EYE CAMP: A free eye camp was organised by members of the Maa Bhagwati Club on Friday at the Arya School road. The camp was inaugurated by Mr Surinder Dawar, MLA. The eye specalist, Dr Ashok Gupta and his team examined the eyes of 210 persons with computers. After examining, prescribed medicines were provided to the patients. Mr Dawar appreciated the efforts of energetic members of the club who were engaged in number of social activities and said ‘this was the best form of serving the nation.’ 

KIDS CREATE REAL-LIFE SITUATION: The tiny tots of DAV Public School created a real-life situation where students acted as social workers on Friday on the school campus. This situation was created to make them aware about their surroundings. They were nicely dressed up as a doctor, gardener, barber, nurse etc. They were ready to help others with their things they were taught through project method. Children as well as teachers tried their best to bring requisite effect. The Principal remarked that expression were not only the domain of elders. Even the children also have the ability to express themselves. He appreciated all the children and teachers for their effort. 

CAMPA COLA IS BACK: After remaining in hibernation for a few years, the Campa Cola is back in the market. Satya Beverages and Distilleries Ltd has taken the franchise for the bottling of the drinks. A team of officials launched the drinks here on Saturday. Addressing a press conference, the officials maintained that the Campa Cola still had an appeal among the consumers and the company hoped to cash in on it. They claimed that the Campa Cola had already captured a good market share in Haryana and Rajasthan. 

FOOD JOINT: All Time Fun Food, a food joint, was launched here. According to its managing director, the restaurant was opened up after a thorough study and observation of the market. Giving details, he said, it was a place that promised to be an experience of a lifetime for Ludhianvis. He said while the non-vegetarian food would be the main attraction, but there are various kinds of vegetarian dishes which would be equally delicious.

PATHANKOT
BUILDERS PROTEST: The District Gurdaspur, PWB Builders Association held a demonstration here on Friday against the new policy of enlistment of contractors. A charter of demands was presented to Mr M.S. Nijjer executive engineer. Contractors demanded that old pattern of enlistment should continue.

PENSIONERS’ DEMAND: The State Pensioners Welfare Organisation (SPWO) on Thursday urged the State Government to solve the problems of the pensioners on priority. Mr Satish Saini, President of the Organisation, urged the Government to transfer their pension payment orders from the Public Sector Banks. He said that in certain cases two months elapsed and the work regarding pension remains halted.

OBSCENE POSTERS: Women Lawyers here protested against the ‘obscene’ posters in various parts of the Town. Mrs Rakhia Pandit a spokesperson of the Lawyers urged the administration to take steps and demanded the removal of the objectionable posters.

CULTIVATE HERBS: Mr N.S. Randhawa, Divisional Forest Officer, here has urged the people of Kakdai village to adopt cultivation of medicinal herbs like Myrobalam (Amla), belleric myrobalam, ginger and chroe alum for their benefit and to boost agronomy.

SEMINAR: Military authorities here held a seminar on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at the military (command) hospital on Friday. Brig R.K. Sharma inaugurated the seminar while Brig (Mrs) S. Mukerjee, Commandant, 167 Military Hospital, presided over it. Preventive measures to check SARS were discussed. More than 200 officers, Junior commissioned officers and others attended the seminar.

SAMRALA
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The local police seized three bags of poppy from Rampal Singh of Bondli village near Heden village. He has been challenged, said Mr Paramjit Singh Sarao, SSP, Khanna, here on Saturday another 100 gm of opium was seized from Gurdev Singh of Gharkhana village. Another 10 bags of poppy husk were seized from Bachittar Singh and Gurcharan Singh of Ranwan village.

HARYANA

AMBALA
STOLEN: Valuables worth Rs 3 lakh were stolen from a car on Friday evening. According to information, Mr Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Jagadhri, parked his car in front of Bapu Asha Ram Ashram near Panjokhra village. In the morning he found that one gold chain two rings, one mobile phone and other valuables were missing from his car. A case has been registered.

SCOOTERIST KILLED: A scooterist was killed near Patehri village when an unknown vehicle hit him. According to information, the deceased, Manjit Singh, was going to his village on the scooter when the vehicle hit his scooter and fled. The police has registered a case in this regard.

SUPPORT: The Samaj Shakti Party, Haryana will support the candidate of the INLD in Fatehabad byelection. The President of state unit of the party, Mr Piyare Lal Kalra said here on Saturday that party leaders had decided to go to Fatehabad for supporting the INLD candidate. The senior leaders of the party, including the state Vice-President, Mr Ram Gujral, and the General Secretary, Dr S.S. Chaudhry, were present in the meeting.

INFERTILITY CLINIC: Lt Gen B.S. Thakur, GOC, Kharga Corpos, inaugurated an infertility clinic in Military Hospital on Saturday. The infertility clinic and intra-uterine insemination laboratory is being run by the Army Medical Corps. The infertility clinic will bring one of the most advanced treatment in the field of infertility available to armed forces personnel in Ambala. The ultra modern centrally-airconditioned centre has the latest equipment and is manned by qualified staff trained in Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

FOUNDATION STONE: The Lioness Club Ambala Cantonment, North on Saturday, laid the foundation stone for a charitable dispensary in Laxmipura, near the Tangri bridge. The foundation stone was laid by Dr Sadhna Gupta. the club president Ms Rita Pathania, Dr Suniti Sharma, Ms Shanti Handa, Ms Sonia and Mr Vidya Sagar Sharma were present on the occasion. The charitable dispensary will help those residing in Khojkipur, Kardhan, Rampur Sarsehri and other adjoining villages. 

MOTHER’S DAY: The Mother’s Day was celebrated in Lord Krishna Public School on Saturday. The mothers were invited to the school. The school students presented a cultural programme. ‘One minute’ competition, quiz competition, an exhibition of stiching, toys and paintings were also organised on the occasion. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
WORKSHOP: A two-day workshop organised by Government Polytechnic College, Sundernagar, at Government Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for trainees of Institute concluded here on Friday. The trainees were urged to start own avocations by taking loan and subsidies being provided by number of the Government departments and Banks and other financial institutions.

MANDI
FARMERS’ MEET: A meeting of farmers of 12 Panchayats of Chuhar Valley, who had cultivated poppy in 50 to 95 per cent of their holdings and which was destroyed by the Customs Department the police and the Narcotics Control Buareau, Chandigarh, was held on Friday at Padhar to generate awareness that cultivation of poppy was a serious crime. The meeting, presided over by Deputy Commissioner, J.P. Singh, said that experts from Agriculture and Horticulture Departments would hold a series of training camps in the remote valley to educate the farmers on the cultivation of crops yielding remunerative returns.

SHIMLA
ARRESTED: An incident of rape of a 26-year-old woman of Kamlan village in Rampur tehsil has came to light. The victim was being raped for the past six months by Hari Das, a supervisor in the PWD department. The police has arrested Hari Das.