R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FAZILKA
NO SALARY: As many as 93 teachers of different primary schools of Block 1 and 2 of Fazilka have not been paid salaries for the month of June, for want of budgetary sanction for these posts. According to Mr Raj Kishore Kalra, spokesperson, Government Secondary Teachers Union, Punjab, there are 48 teachers in Block 1 and 45 in Block 2 who have not been paid their salary.

HOSHIARPUR
PROHIBITED: Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, District Magistrate, Hoshiarpur, has prohibited the sale of — Phensedyl, Corex, Codeine Mit’s lincture, Lamofen, Lomotil, Sudhinol, Froxyvon, and Buta Proxivon, Proxytab, Dexvone, Parvon, Corbutyl, Morphine, Norphine, Pethdine, Fortwin, Pentavon, Pentawin, Calmpose, Carisoma Compound, Mendrex — all medicines containing Dextropropoxiphene & Pentazocine to any body without valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner. He has also prohibited the storage of these medicines without valid licence. These orders will remain in force up to September 17, 2003.

CHILD ABANDONED: A new born live baby boy was found abandoned in the fields in Muradpur Naria village near Bhulowal on Friday. The infant was handed over to the Bulhowal police chowki. A case was registered under Section 315, IPC, in this connection.

HELD: The police arrested Vijay Kumar of Mohalla Shastri Nagar under Sections 20, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act and recovered 100 gm charas from him.

JAGRAON
PROTEST: The newly formed Nagar Sudhar Sabha Jagraon has decided to organise a rally and stage dharna in front of the office of municipal council on Tuesday in protest against the deteriorating civic condition of this town and against the attitude of the councillors who allow the same to aggravate than to cure. The sabha accused the residents of becoming habituals to live in most insanitary conditions for the years and blamed the municipal council for not removing the heaps of dirt.

LUDHIANA
GATE RALLY: To protest against the state cabinet’s move to privatise the state polytechnic and industrial training centres, the staff of the Government Polytechnic for Women and the Government Institute of Textile Chemistry and Knitting Technology held a gate rally on their premises here on Friday. The agitated members threatened that if the government did not withdraw their privatisation move, they would intensify their agitation and struggle for their rights. A coordination committee with different staff categories was also constituted on the occasion. The coordination committee included Mr S.P.Singh, Mr Manoj Kumar, Ms Anshu Sharma, Ms Suman Lata, Mr Mohan Singh, Ms Shadi Singh, Mr Balwinder Singh, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mr Prakash Chand, Mr Tilak Raj Sharma, Mr Manohar Lal and Ms Urmila Mattu.

RESULT: The Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Vocational Studies (GGNIVS) has achieved 100 per cent results in computer science, library and information sciences and mass communication courses being conducted through distance education programme by Guru Nanak Dev University. Stating this, Prof Kuldip Singh, director, said new courses in insurance, marketing and library sciences were also getting a good response. Mr Manjit Singh Chhabra, coordinator, said postgraduate degree courses such as those in journalism and mass communication were becoming quite popular.

AWARDED: Dr Ravinder Kochhar, Principal, and Dr Deepinder Singh, Associate Professor, Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital, have been conferred the life fellowship award by the International Council of Ayurveda incorporated with the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine’. The fellowship was awarded for their contribution towards promotion of health facilities for the poor and creating awareness towards health issues among general public.

ELECTED: Mr N.S. Nanda has been unanimously elected as the president of the Ludhiana Citizens Club at a general body meeting of the club held here on Friday. Mr Vinod Thapar has been elected as general secretary. According to a press release, other office-bearers include: Mr Rajinder Singh Basan and Darshan Dawar — senior vice-presidents; Mr Jagmohan Singh —vice-president, Mr Narinder Miglani — Joint Secretary; Mr Sukhminder Singh — orgnasing secretary and Mr Charanjiv Singh — media secretary.

MANSA
ARRESTED: The Sardulgarh police has arrested Ram Dayal, Revenue Patwari, Sukhwinder Singh, Nambardar and Jagraj Singh, all of the Jatana Kalan village of the district, in connection with a case registered against them under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 and 120-B of the IPC. They were produced in the court of Ms Gurdarshan Kaur, Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mansa, on Friday, and were remanded in judicial custody till August 1, 2003. Main accused Autar Singh of the village is, however, reported to be absconding.

PATIALA
HONOURED: Rajinder Verma, Akhilesh, Mohan Kamboj and Charan Dass Khanna were honoured by the National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS) at Bhagat Munshi Ram memorial theatre session here on Saturday. The session was held to observe the 21st death anniversary of the founder of the society, Bhagat Munshi Ram. Mayor Vishnu Sharma, PRTC Chairman Ved Parkash Gupta, NTAS president G.S. Kakkar and its director Pran Sabharwal were also present on the occasion.

LIONS CLUB: The Lions Club Patiala, Supreme, solemnised the marriage of Archna, daughter of late Jai Dutt, with Sudarshan. Speaking on the occasion, club president Deepak Malhotra said the club would always remain engaged in social service and would help the needy from time to time. Mr A.K. Malhotra, Cabinet member, said the club would also work for the uplift of the down trodden.

MEETING: An emergency meeting of the PSEB SC Power Engineers and Officers Association, Punjab, was held here on Saturday. The down ward revision of the existing time of minimum qualifying service for promotion of official belonging to various categories and increase in minimum qualifying service in case of Chief Engineer from 23 years to 30 years was discussed at the meeting. The general secretary of the association said the board had taken the decision so the SC officers due promotion for various posts especially the Chief Engineer were debarred from it. It would nullify the benefits of reservation policy, he said. The association decided to take the matter with the state government.

SAPLINGS PLANTED: Members of the Lions Club Patiala, Central, planted a number of saplings at Government Primary School and Navjeevani School here on Saturday. Saplings were also planted at Sadhu Basant Residential Care Centre.

SAMRALA
APPOINTED: Mr Avtar Singh Ghulal, vice-president of the District Congress Committee (Rural ) and a social worker of the subdivision, Samrala, have been appointed member in the District Grievances Committee, Ludhiana, by the Punjab government. The decision has been welcomed by Mr Bhupinder Singh Benipal senior Congress leader and former chairman of the panchayat samiti, Samrala, Mr J. S. Kaler, president of the document writers association, Samrala, Mr Parminder Singh Gill Advocate, general secretary of the PPCC (Legal Cell).

CHANDIGARH

SAS NAGAR
MEDICAL CAMP: A health camp to check cardiology and pulmonary diseases was held at Defence Veterans Polyclinic here on Saturday. Brig (Dr) M.L. Kataria and Col (Dr), N.K. Bhatia conducted the camp, according to a statement issued here. Over 200 patients were examined at the camp. Preventive measures were also explained by doctors with the help of video cassettes. Free medicines were distributed to patients.

HARYANA

AMBALA
FOUR HELD: The CIA staff, Ambala City, led by the DSP, Mr Raj Gopal, raided a house in Manmohan Nagar, Ambala City, on Friday evening and arrested four persons, including two women, engaged in immoral trafficking. All four persons were produced in a local court which remanded them to judicial custody.

SMACK SEIZED: The CIA staff seized 30 gm smack from the possession of two persons in Ambala City here on Saturday. During a checking campaign, the CIA staff stopped Rambir and Rajan who were riding a motor cycle near Jandlli bridge. During search, 20 gm of smack was seized from the possession of Rambir and 10 gm from Rajan. A case has been registered under NDPS Act.

TEACHERS’ UNION: The election of the SD College Teachers Union was held here on Saturday. Following were elected office-bearers: president — Prof Naveen Gulati; vice-president — Dr A.K. Tandon; general secretary — Dr Ramesh Madan; joint secretary — Prof Anju; and finance secretary — Prof K.K. Nagpal, a press note said.

DEMAND: The Citizens Council demanded here on Saturday that a team of engineers must examine the inlets and outlets of major drains. Dr N.C. Jain, chairman, said the technical feasibility of cleanliness of major drains, including Gurguria nullah and Mahesh Nagar drain, should be taken into account. “The council has demanded that the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council should coordinate with different authorities before inviting tenders for cleaning and desilting of drains so that proper utilisation of funds could be made, said a press note.

FATEHABAD
CAMP FOR FARMERS: Farmers have been advised against in discriminate use of pesticides. At a farmers training camp organised at Bhattu Kalan in the district on Saturday agriculture experts said indiscriminate spray of pesticides on crops could prove counterproductive. The camp was organised under the ‘Tilhan Scheme’ of the government. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, was the chief guest. Dr B.S. Sangwan, Joint Director, Agriculture, presided over. Dr M.S. Gupta, a senior scientist from Chowdhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, Mr Partap Singh Punia, Subdivisional Agriculture Officer, Fatehabad, Mr Kashmir Singh, Dr G.R. Singh and Dr Kharab of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Fatehabad, provided information to the participating farmers.

PLEA: Thirteen of the 19 municipal councillors have written to the local Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, to convene a special meeting of the local Municipal Committee alleging that the municipal president, Ms Sheela Wanti Tuteja, has been deferring the meeting without any valid reasons. Municipal Councillors, Mr M.K. Soni, Mr Sushil Narang, Ms Parmo Dhillon, Mr Chunni Lal, Ms Usha Dahiya, Mr Vijay Kirar, Mr Surender Kumar, Ms Sheela Goswami, Ms Usha Rani, Ms Suresh Kumar, Mr Gobind Chowdhary and Mr Satyapaul Bansal have said in their letter that Ms Tuteja had postponed the meeting scheduled for June 30 without any valid reasons. The members alleged that it was against norms.

KAITHAL
POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The police seized 68 kg of poppy husk from three persons at two different places in Guhla subdivision of Friday. In the first case a police party during patrolling at Cheeka stopped two persons and on frisking seized 56 kg of poppy husk from their possession. They are Hardeep of Daban Kheri and Saheb Singh of Dera Shiv Majra. In the second case a police part at a naka stopped a motorcyclist Gurdeep Singh of Chaba and seized 12 kg of poppy husk from him. all the three accused have been arrested and booked under the NDPS Act.

BRIDGE DEMANDED: Mr Vijay Bansal, an ex-chairman of the Kalka Market Committee, in a statement here on Saturday alleged that due to indifferent attitude of the Chautala government, the proposal of constructing a bridge over Sukhna Nadi, between Kalka and Tipra, was gathering dust in the office files. He claimed that in 1996, when he was the Market Committee chairman, he, with the help of Mr Chander Mohan, MLA, had prepared and sent an estimate for the construction of the bridge to the Marketing Board. In the meantime, the Congress lost power. He alleged that the Chautala government, had not paid any attention to the project and villagers were facing a lot of problems during the rainy season. He demanded that the project should be taken up soon.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
HELD FOR RAPE: The police on Friday arrested Om Prakash on the charge of allegedly raping a woman of Shalli village under the Tissa police station in Chamba district on July 14. The suspect had also threatened to kill the woman if she disclosed the matter to anyone. A case under Sections 376, 541 and 506 of the IPC, has been registered.

PARWANOO
LAYING OF CABLE: The local Nagar Parishad, after a meeting held with the BSNL authorities, has decided to stop cable-laying work started by the BSNL authorities in Sector 1 here. According to sources, the BSNL owes about Rs 9 lakh to the parishad in respect of the previous cable-laying work undertaken in the area. According to Chunni Lal Chauhan, vice-president of the parishad, it was also not advisable to allow the BSNL authorities to start work during the rainy season as it would create lot of inconvenience for the public. According to Mr H.L. Saini, the local SDO of the BSNL, the amount claimed by the parishad did not tally with the amount calculated by the BSNL. The meeting was attended by Ms Meenakshi Sharma, President of the Nagar Parishad, Mr Chunni Lal Chauhan, Vice-President, Mr Man Mohan Sharma, Mr Ranjeet, Mr Ravinder Garg, (all members); Mr Bhim Sen Thakur, Junior Engineer, and Mr H.L. Saini, SDO (BSNL).

RESENTMENT: Resentment prevails among small savings depositors of the area over the non-declaration of results of lucky draw coupons issued by the local post office. The scheme for the year 2002-2003 closed on March 31, but the result of draw was still awaited.

INTERACTIVE SESSION: The HP State Council of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) organised an interactive session with the Director-General, Employees State Insurance Corporation, here on Friday afternoon. The session was attended by Dr P.C. Kapoor, Secretary, Labour and Employment, Himachal Pradesh, Dr Rama Singh, Joint Director, Health Services, Mr Awasthi, Joint Labour Commissioner, and Mr Saphiya, Labour Officer. About 80 members of Industries Association of Parwanoo and Baddi also attended the meeting.