R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Bathinda
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the newly formed district unit of the Democratic Employees Front here: president — Mr Bhoj Raj; senior vice-president — Mr Jagjit Singh Gill; vice-president — Ms Shakuntla Rani; secretary — Mr Bhajan Singh Mattu; finance secretary — Mr Jagdev Singh Jagga; and joint secretaries — Ms Jasvinder Kaur and Mr Harbhajan Tank.

VETERINARY CAMP: The Punjab Government has started implementing a plan to help farmers to improve their economic status. One village in every block of the district would be made a model village. Stating this in a press note issued here on Thursday, Dr Amrik Singh, veterinary officer, Blahr Inku village, said nearly 300 animals were examined at a camp held at Har Raipur village.

Fatehgarh Sahib
MEDICAL CAMP: At least five free medical camps would be organised every month at various places in the district by the District Red Cross Society to provide free of cost treatment to the weaker section of society, said Mr S.K.Ahluwalia, Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib while addressing a public gathering at government school in Kharaura village here on Friday after inaugurating a medical camp organised by the District Red Cross Society and Hospital Welfare wing with the help of local Youth Welfare Sports and Cultural club. He said free of cost medicines would be made available free of cost at these camps by the wing and Rs. 3 lakh have been spent for this purpose.

Hoshiarpur
ACCIDENT: Sonu Mehta, a truck driver, died on the spot, while another was injured seriously when 9112-Jammu Ahmedabad train collided with a mini truck (No HRF 3007 at a unmanned gate near Bhangala at 12.10 p.m. on the Jalandhar Jammu Railway Section 65 km from here on Friday. The injured was Krishan Chand son of Nathu Ram of Talwara. He was admitted in civil hospital Mukerian. The traffic on Jalandhar Jammu Railway section remained suspended for more than an hour.

DOWRY CASE: On the complaint of Manjit Kaur daughter of Madan Lal Kotla, the Mahilpur police has registered a case under Sections 498-A, and 406 of the IPC against her husband Paramjit Singh, father-in-law Jogi Ram, mother-in-law Satya, Jasbir Kaur, Jagan Nath and Shanker Dass, all residents of Binjon for harassing her for dowry.

Kharar
DATE FOR HEARING: Ms Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar on Wednesday fixed October 15 as date for consideration of two applications moved by Mr Kanwaljit Singh Sidhu, an NRI, and Mr Krishan Kumar, PA to Sukhbir Singh Badal, for cancellation of warrants of arrest issued by the court on August 21 and for dropping the proclamation proceedings issued under Sections 82 and 83 of the CrPC by the court on September 2. The orders were passed when the Vigilance Bureau Punjab filed its reply in the court.

INAUGURATED: Punjab Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang inaugurated the newly upgraded senior secondary school at Rattangarh village near Morinda and laid the foundation stone of the Integrated Rural Development Programme Scheme of the village. While addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr Kang announced that those teachers, who would bring good result in their school, would be awarded in the Morinda constituency. He expressed deep concern over the low standard of education in the education institution and called upon this teacher community to pay special attention to improve the quality of education in the schools. He also urged them to improve general knowledge of various sphere of the students for their overall development so that our new generation can successfully compete in the open world markets.

LUDHIANA
Welfare association: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Hero DMC Heart Institute Employees Association: president: Mr Harish Prabhakar; vice-president -Ms Jagjit Kaur;general secretary- Mr Amritpal Singh; and finance secretary -Ms Pooja Manocha.

Office-bearers: The following were elected office-bearers of the local United India Insurance Officers' Association at the annual general body meeting of the association held here on Friday :patron-Mr J.D. Wadhwa; president- MrR.P. Sharma; vice-presidents-Mr C. L. Batra and Mr Surinder Singh ;regional secretary-Mr Ashok Bali; and treasurer-Mr S.S. Randhawa.

CORNEAL TRANSPLANT: Under the project of “Sight First”, the Lions Club, Ludhiana, Skipper sponsored the corneal transplant surgery of 12 patients hailing from Ludhiana, Sangrur, Jalandhar and Moga. Dr Ramesh, MD, Punarjot Eye Bank of Punjab thanked the club for its cooperation for the noble cause.

WTO PROGRAMME DECRIED: A meeting of the Punjab Kisan Sabha (PKS), the Khet Mazdoor Union (KMU) and the Janwadi Naujawan Sabha (JNS) was held at Gurditpura village, 10 km from here where it was stated that WTO would prove a bane and due to wrong policies of the Centre 9 lakh industrial units had been closed.

Nawanshahr
COMMISSIONER’S VISIT: Dr Swaran Singh, Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, at a meeting of officials here at Dilbagh Hall directed them to provide roads, drinking water, power supply, sanitation, health and education etc to people. He took stock of paddy procurement. He also visited Khatkar Kalan, native village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and paid tributes to the martyr.

DENTAL CAMP: The Lions Club, Banga, Mehak and Charan Kanwal, Banga jointly organised a ‘Dental Check up camp at Government Elementary School, Bhaura, 12 km from here on Friday where 250 students were examined. Medicines, tooth pastes, and brushes were given to free of cost. Mr Baldev Nayyar, district chairman, Lions Club, presided.

NSS CAMP: The Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur (Nawanshahr) organised a 10-day NSS camp at Mander village where 150 NSS volunteers took part in the camp which was inaugurated by Dr S.S. Johl, former Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala. A blood donation camp was also organised on the concluding day where 40 units of blood were collected.

Patiala
SEMINAR: The Punjabi University National Service Scheme (NSS) Department in collaboration with the Government State College of Education, Patiala, organised a seminar on ‘Youth for healthy society and national integration’ on the college campus here on Saturday. While addressing the gathering, founder chairman of the Guru Nanak Sikh Foundation of America Daljit Singh Khalsa exhorted the youth to inculcate the spirit of national integration so as to make Indian society healthy and strong. The Head of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur National Integration Chair, Dr Baltej Singh Mann, urged the students to shun casteism and fundamentalism so as to bring economic prosperity and stability in the country.

Phagwara
BALMIKI JAYANTI: Balmik Jayanti was celebrated here on Friday. Punjab Social Welfare Minister Joginder Singh Man hoisted religious flag at Bhagwan Balmik Temples on the Banga road and Palahi road and gave Rs 1 lakh each. He also gave Rs 1 lakh to Guru Ravi Das Mandir Palahi Road. Mr KK Sardana donated Rs 11000 for the two Balmik mandirs. Bhandaras and bhajans marked the “Pargat utsav” of Bhagwan Balmik.

Ropar
NSS CAMP: About 50 NSS volunteers from the IET, Bhaddal, organised a 10-day camp in Dekwla village near Ropar. In the camp, lectures on primary education healthy ways of living and family panning were delivered for the residents of the village. The NSS volunteers also performed social activities in the village as cleaning of streets and repairing roads. The sarpanch of the village, Mr Surjit Singh, appreciated the efforts of the NSS volunteers. The principal of the IET, Bhaddal, Mr I.K. Kataria, distributed stationary goods and medical kit to the aanganwari centre of the village.

HARYANA

AMBALA
GRIEVANCE: Commission agents of Ambala city grain market have decided to prevent the Food Corporation of India from purchasing paddy from the mandi this year as the Corporation has not paid labour charges of commission agents. The president of the Grain Market Association, Mr Duni Chand Danipur, said the corporation had purchased around one lakh quintal of wheat last year from the mandi. The commission agents were paid their two and half per cent commission but the labour charges paid to “palledars” by them were not paid. He said the office-bearers of the association had met with FCI officials a number of times in this regard but they did not get a favourable response.

DEMAND: The MP and secretary of the VHP, Mr Prem Singh Sher, has demanded the Union Government to bring a legislation for construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Talking to mediapersons here on Friday, he said majority of BJP MPs were of the view that the Union Government should bring a bill to solve the long-standing controversy over the issue. Replying to a question he said more than five lakh devotees would reach Ayodhya on October 17 to express their solidarity on the issue. He said 500 VHP workers from Haryana would join the supporters on that day.

SEMINAR: An Army-media seminar being held at 2 Corp Headquarters culminated here on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, Col Ravi Batra said sharing of information is need of the hour. “Media is the watchdog for the institutions of power. Mediapersons are as patriotic and nationalist as the soldiers. There should be trust, fraternity and faith between the Army and the media,” he said. He said there in a directorate of public relations at the Ministry of Defence Col Batra said the guiding principles in dealing with the media were that there would be no favouritism.

Fatehabad
CRACKERS’ SALE REGULATED: The district administration has regulated the sales and storage of crackers in the district in view of the Divali festival. The administration on Thursday announced that the crackers being sold and stored without proper licence would be confiscated under the Municipal Act, 1973, and action would be taken under the Explosive Substances Act, 1983. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, told mediapersons here on Thursday that those who wanted to store crackers would have to obtain licence. He said the government had banned the manufacture and sale of those crackers, which produce a sound above 125 decibel at a distance of 4 metres from the place of explosion. The people would be allowed to burst crackers from 6 pm to 10 pm only.

KARNAL
BAN IMPOSED: The District Magistrate of Karnal, Mr R.S. Doon, has prohibited farmers and cultivators of the district from putting their fields on fire after harvesting paddy crops. The ban has been imposed under Section 144 because the practice of setting fields on fire creates severe air pollution that causes serious health hazard, claimed the District Magistrate. The order will remain in force till November 30.

Sirsa
CASE REGISTERED: The district police has registered a case under the Prevention of Explosive Act against two persons, including a woman, in connection with the explosion in which a 10-year-old girl had died while three other, including two women, had sustained injuries. According to the information received on Saturday, Kamala Devi of Ward No. 7, Shastri Nagar, and her son, Rajesh, were booked for illegally manufacturing crackers in their home.

YAMUNANAGAR
TEMPORARY LICENCE: The district administration has decided to issue temporary licences for selling crackers during the ensuing Divali festival and such licences would be given from October 25. This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vijayender Kumar, here on Thursday. The Deputy Commissioner said the site had been earmarked by the district administration for sale of crackers. He said the application form for the grant of such licence could be obtained from the District Red Cross near District Secretariat. He said application forms should be accompanied by a site plan, key plan of the proposed premises, proof of residence, copies of ownership or rented premises and no objection certificate in form of affidavit from the owner.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

MANDI
GUTTED: The godown of a karyana merchant was gutted in the Sarkaghat bus division area of the district on Friday. The fire broke out at 4.30 am. The exact loss was yet to be ascertained.