R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABHOR
RALLY: A Vigilance awareness rally against corruption was organised by 2 PB (1) Company of the NCC here on Thursday. Mr Iqbal Singh Godara, NCC officer, and Mr M.M. Goyal, Vice-Principal, DAV College, participated in the rally.

OFFICES SEALED: Mr Virender Garg, Naib Tehsildar sealed offices of the Canter union on the Malout road here on Wednesday, following tension between factions of the office-bearers of the union.

AMRITSAR
ABORTION: An Aanganwari worker, Manjit Kaur, was caught while conducting an abortion of a five-month pregnant woman by a team of doctors here on Wednesday. This was disclosed by the Civil Surgeon in a press note issued here. She was haded over to the police.

SARPANCH BOOKED: The Ramdass police under Majitha police district has booked a sarpanch, a panchayat member and four other persons of Bhairiwa village for allegedly demolishing a religious place on November 6. Those booked are Kabal Singh, sarpanch, Kuldip Singh, panchayat member, Harbhajan Singh, Maluk Singh, Gurdial Singh and Satnam Singh. The complainant, Baba Avtar Singh, alleged that the suspects forcibly entered his house, where he had made a place of worship, threw away pictures and took away Rs 5,000 from the house.

HOSHIARPUR
LIQUOR SEIZED: Excise staff, headed by Mr Sudesh Vikas, Excise and Taxation Officer, and Mr Balbir Sharma, District Excise Inspector, intercepted a car at a naka near Ram Colony on the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road and seized 33 cases of pouch whisky and seven cases of branded whisky from it. This was disclosed by Mr Neelam Chaudhry, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, on Wednesday. The occupant of the car, Gurpreet Singh of Sector 55, Chandigarh, was arrested.

ELECTED: Members of the Punjab unit of the All-India Integrated Medical Association, at their annual election meeting on Wednesday, elected Dr Naresh Saggar of Hoshiarpur and Dr Rakesh Dhand of Nurpur Bedi (Ropar) as president and secretary, respectively. They have been authorised to nominate other office-bearers.

GURDASPUR
POPPY SEIZED: The police has busted a gang engaged in smuggling and seized 2.79 quintals of poppy husk from their possession. Mr R.P.S. Brar, SSP, said on Wednesday that three members of the gang — Mehar Singh of Terala village, Lal Singh, alias Laloo, of Kalhog and Hari Dev of Joginder Nagar, all places in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, had been arrested.

JALANDHAR
SMUGGLERS HELD: In its ongoing drive against criminal and anti-social elements, the district police on Wednesday arrested 14 persons for their alleged involvement in smuggling of illicit liquor and gambling, the district police chief, Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said.

2 held: The Vigilance Bureau has arrested an employee of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, Kapurthala, and his accomplice for taking a bribe of Rs 500 for issuing a certificate. In a press note issued here on Wednesday, the bureau said those arrested were copy clerk K.K. Dharghatia and Sukhwinder Singh.

KHANNA
LECTURE: A lecture was delivered on the prevention of dengue by Dr Sat Pal, Medical Officer of Civil Hospital, Khanna, at A.S. College on Thursday. More than 300 NCC and NSS volunteers were present. Besides, Lieut K.K. Sharma, NSS Programme Officer, Dr Sanjay Tewari, Prof Dinesh, Madam Sudha, Prof P.J. Sharma, Prof Shourie and Mr Kainth were also present.

CRUSHED TO DEATH: A local resident was crushed to death under a train at a level crossing on Thursday. Bajinder, a resident of Bilan Wali Chappri, was going to Rattan Heri village when the mishap took place. A train number 3 UL hit him. He died on the spot. The body of the victim was sent to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

LUDHIANA
PENSIONERS: The Government Pensioners Association has expressed satisfaction over the release of one more installment of DA for its pensioners and family pensioners by the state government with effect from July this year. It would raise the quantum of DA from 55 to 59 per cent of the basic pension. A circular to this effect has been received by the association, according to Mr Yash Pal Ghai, Additional General Secretary of the association.

DEMAND: The Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (PSSF) has urged the state government to act in a positive and responsive manner towards the poor plight of clerks, recruited on compassionate grounds in the Education Department. These clerks were forced to work on their basic salary without any increment like other employees in the same department.

WORKSHOP: A workshop, which was organised under the National Agricultural Technology Project, by the Department of Farm Power and Machinery on mechanical cotton picking, concluded here on Wednesday. Dr Darshan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate studies and Acting Director of Research, was the chief guest at the inaugural function.

TRIBUTES PAID: Tributes were paid to the first Mayor of the city Choudhry Satya Parkash at a well-attended prayer meeting held in the Bhartiya Vidya Mandir premises here on Thursday. A prominent leader of BJP and an activist of the RSS, he had passed away at the age of 79 after a protracted illness here on November 1. Among those who paid the tributes included Mr Harnam Das Johar, Minister for Higher Education, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, both members of the Rajya Sabha, Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, state president of the BJP, Mr Vishwa Nath, a veteran of RSS, Mr Balram Das Tandon, Mr Madan Mohan-Mittal, former minister, Mr Om Parkash Munjal, Mr Sri Pal Oswal, prominent local industrialists.

Cookery contests: Food Expo 2K3 will be held on December 19, 20 and 21 at Maharaja Palace highlighting various sectors of the food industry. A competition in this regard was held at Government College for Women in which women participated in microwave cooking contest, salad-making contest, cakes and pudding making contest and soya bean cooking contest.

Patiala
INVITED: The Principal Investigator, UGC research project, Prof A.L.J. Rao, has been invited to participate in the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum Workshop on green chemistry being organised in Delhi from November 17 to 20. Nearly 10 participants from the USA and 15 from India have been invited and the workshop will discuss suggestions to incorporate green chemistry in the curricula in terms of both theory and practice at different levels of education.

PHAGWARA
SUSPENDED: Mr Gurdip Singh, a sub-postmaster at the local railway station post office, has been placed under suspension for committing irregularities. Mr Sushil Kumar, Assistant Superintendent (Post Offices), Kapurthala, had ordered a probe into the irregularities. Mr Gurdip Singh, who was in charge of the railway post office, was found guilty of misappropriation.

HARYANA

SCHOOL’S SILVER JUBILEE: Black Charger Children School being set up by the Army is all set to celebrate its silver jubilee at Kharga auditorium. An Army officer said the school, which is located at New Panipat Lines, was started under the aegis of the Black Charger Brigade in 1979 with 35 children on its roll. “It was started as a welfare project, to impart English-medium education to the wards of defence personnel at nominal fees,” he said.

Fatehabad
DOWRY LAWS: Laws provide protection to women against dowry, but misuse of these laws by some women has created a lot of social problems. This was stated on Wednesday by Ms Sangeet Meenaxi, a local lawyer and secretary of the District Bar Association, Fatehabad, while addressing girl students at the local Manohar Memorial Institute of Management and Technology on the occasion of “dowry prohibition day”. The College Director, Mr T.C. Khursija, Administrative Officer S.S. Malhotra, and the in charge of the women wing of the institute, Ms Ashima Arora, were present on the occasion.

REVIEW MEETING: A meeting to review the progress of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan was organised here on Wednesday. The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan, presided over the meeting. Mr Subhash Sheoran, SDM, Dr Munish Nagpal, City Magistrate, Mr Sriram Jakhar, District Education Officer, municipal councillors and social workers were present at the meeting. Addressing the meeting, the DC said educational societies had been set up at the village level to ensure that all eligible children attended schools by the end of this year.