R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
BANNED: Mr Raminder Singh, District Magistrate, has banned the entry of heavy vehicles from 7 am to 9 pm in the municipal limits of the city. In a press note here on Tuesday the District Magistrate said trucks, mini trucks, and LTV would be permitted in the city only for the purposes of loading and unloading and not for parking.

FARMERS’ CONFERENCE: As many as 400 farmers participated in a regional-level farmers’ conference organised at Verowal village on Tuesday. Mr S.K. Patra, Vice-President (marketing) of Birla Fertilisers Ltd, advised the farmers to diversify to profitable cultivation and to adopt organic farming.

PLEA: The Amritsar Vikas Manch on Tuesday urged the state government to fill the vacant posts of teacher in the state. In a letter to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, manch president Charanjit Singh Gumtala stated that the government had got grants for the recruitment of 2010 teachers but allegedly these had not been used.

GURDASPUR
INSPECTION: Mr K.A.P. Sinha, Deputy Commissioner, and several senior district officials inspected the Ravi in connection with flood control measures and to redress grievances of people living in the border areas. As per a press note here on Tuesday, the team toured Makaura Ferri, Chebe, Toor, Lassian, Bharyal and Tashpost besides other places.

THREE ARRESTED: The police on Tuesday arrested three persons and seized a working still and 165 kg of lahan from their possession. The police had earlier arrested 17 persons in this regard. The accused have been booked under the Excise Act.

HOSHIARPUR
POLL ARRANGEMENTS: Elaborate arrangements have been made to hold fair and free elections in about 12,500 panchayats in the state. More than 50,000 polling stations have been set up and about one lakh state government employees have been deployed for the purpose. This was stated by Mr C.L. Bains, Election Commissioner, Punjab, while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday.

SUICIDE: Anjana Devi a student of plus two of Tanda, reportedly committed suicide on Tuesday after she failed in the annual examination of the Punjab School Education Board.

KHANNA
HONOUR: Amandeep Kaur, a student of A.S. College has topped the list of successful candidates of the MA-I (political science) examination held in April, 2003, by Panjab University, Chandigarh. She secured 239 marks out of 400 marks. Principal of the college Tarsem Bahia said in a press note here on Tuesday that this was for the ninth time that a student of the Department of Political Science of the college had secured the first position in the university.

LUDHIANA
GOVT FLAYED: Dr B.R. Ambedkar (Youth Wing) in its meeting held here on Wednesday flayed the Congress Government for not fulfilling their pre-poll promises. Mr Jagdeep Singh, president of the state unit of the wing, said that in their election campaign, the Congress leaders had promised to extend all cooperation to the Backward Class but they were ignored. Mr Jagdeep Singh said that despite taking them into confidence, the ruling party had withdrawn all facilities provided by the Badal government. He said, "In the coming panchayat elections, the wing would support the SAD (Badal) candidate. The meeting was attended by Lachman Das Sahota, Sukhdev Singh Sukha, Gurmukh Sandhu, Sukhjinder Singh, Satvinder Sidhu, Gurdev Singh, Manpreet Singh and Darshan Singh.

URGED: Major Sher Singh Aulakh, President and Mr Krishan Lal Malik, vice-president of the Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha, have asked the Government of India not to get entangled in the affairs of Iraq. The USA, they said, was trying to be over clever by persuading the Indian government to send its soldiers to face the Iraqi people angered over the occupation of their country by the coalition forces. Mr Aulakh said, "Iraqis are killing American soldiers. Why should we send our troops to land in a trap? The BJGVJ had at the time of invasion of Iraq had opposed that. Now sending troops to Iraq by us would amount to legitimising US occupation of Iraq by our country.” He further added that the country had always stood for right to independence of all nations. The country should pressurise the US and its allies to withdraw from Iraq and let Iraqis decide fate of their own country, only then permanent peace can be restored in the region.

ANNUAL FUNCTION: The annual function of the “Chaddar-Rasam” at Darbar Peer Baba Bhole Shaji would be held at Kulliwal village, near Jamalpur, on Wednesday, an official release of the organisers said here on Tuesday. Noted Qawwal Karam Ali will perform on the occasion.

PTA CONSTITUTED: The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) was constituted at Lajpat Rai DAV College, Jagraon, for a closer integration between the parents of the students and college authorities. Today, A general house meeting, chaired by the Principal, Mr N.S. Misra, was held on Wednesday. The executive committee of the PTA was elected with principal as the President, Mr M.P. Syal as secretary, and Prof Usha Sharma as the cashier. Besides, Mr Yash Pal Goel and Prof K.G. Bansal became the senior vice-presidents. Others elected from among the parents as members are Mr Gurdeep Singh of Sherpur Kalan village, Mr Charan Singh Kand of Bangsipura and Mr Iqbal Singh from Aligarh. The general body unanimously sanctioned Rs 50,000 from PTA funds to be spent on the water-cooler for the boys’ wing.

EXCISE RELIEF SOUGHT: The Ludhiana Textile Association has sought excise relief on shawls. Speaking at a function organised to honour the newly appointed District Congress Committee (urban) president, Mr Jagmohan Sharma, association members said the imposition of central excise duty on shawls had badly hit the industry. They urged Mr Sharma to take up the issue with the state and the Central Government. The association raised several other demands and hoped that these would be resolved at the earliest.

MANSA
PROHIBITED: Mr Raj Kumar Chowdery, District Magistrate, has prohibited the use of the word “Press” on vehicles in the district. Accredited print and media journalists are authorised to use “Press” labels signed by the District Public Relations Officer. The orders will remain inforce till August 12.

PATHANKOT
APPOINTED: The newly appointed Chairman of the local Improvement Trust, Mr Rajbir Singh, has promised to give a clean administration. He along with Mr Ashok Sharma, MLA, and Congress supporters took out a procession on Wednesday.

PATIALA
CONTINGENT: The Panjab University National Service Scheme (NSS) has sent a contingent of 25 volunteers on a 10-day ‘hiking and trekking programme’ at Manali. The programme, which commenced on Wednesday, is slated to end on June 27 and is sponsored by the Directorate of Youth Services, Punjab. The selected volunteers were given an orientation training stint at the local Khalsa College on Tuesday where the college Principal, Mr Harbir Singh, exhorted the youth to become more adventurous for the overall development of their personality.

SAMRALA
MEMORANDUM GIVEN: Members and office-bearers of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) of Samrala, Mangat and Machhiwara blocks under the leadership of Mr Pritam Singh Manewal, senior vice-president of Machhiwara block, submitted a memorandum to Mr C.S. Mann, Senior Executive Engineer of the PSEB Ghulal (Samrala) here on Wednesday. The leaders, in the memorandum, demanded free electricity to the weaker section, 16-hour regular electricity supply to tubewells, temporary connections for paddy, maximum rate of Rs 60 per horse power, as earlier was charged. Mr Saudagar Singh Ghudani, Mr Harjinder Singh Noorpur Mand, Mr Mohinder Singh, Mr Satnam Singh, Mr Avtar Singh, all residents of Machhiwara block and Mr Karnail Singh of Katani, were there in the deputation.

ZIRAKPUR
ARRESTED: In two separate incidents in the Zirakpur area, the police arrested two persons for smuggling liquor, on Tuesday. Sham Sunder of Shahabad in Haryana was arrested at a naka while carrying 17 bottles of liquor while Ishwar Singh, a resident of Karnal, was caught red handed while taking away 100 pouches of country made liquor. Cases under the Excise Act have been registered against them with the Lohgarh police.

HARYANA

PINJORE
AUCTION: The Municipal Committee, Pinjore, will hold an auction of seven shops at Choudhry Devi Lal Palika complex on Friday. The committee had already held auction for these shops some time ago but no one came forward to take these shops due to excessive reserve price fixed by the committee.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Safai Karamchari Sangh of the Himachal Pradesh Health Department: president — Mr Mahinder Kumar; senior vice-president — Ms Sushila; vice-presidents — Mr Dev Raj and Mr Chaman Lal; general secretary — Mr Pritam Chand; secretaries — Mr Ajay Kumar and Mr Deepak; and treasurers — Mr Raj Kumar and Mr Shyama.

DHARAMSALA
DEAD: Ram Lal (48), a daily wage earner with the Forest Department, succumbed to his injuries in hospital here on Tuesday. According to forest office sources, Ram Lal sustained burns while extinguishing a forest fire near Kangra on Sunday.

SHIMLA
KARZAI SUPPORTERS: The Friends of Karzai Group, a body comprising well-wishers and friends of Mr Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, has congratulated him on the completion of one year as the head of the government. In a message to Mr Karzai, Dr A.R. Khan, convener of the group, expressed hope that under his leadership, the glory of the country would be restored.