R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMLOH
Cooperative Day: The co-operative movement has succeeded in providing loans to farmers and to bring them out of the clutches of landlords, said Mr Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, MLA, Amloh, at the 50th Co-operative Day function organised at the block level on Wednesday. Mr Harinder Singh Sidhu, Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Societies, said the rate of interest on loans to farmers had been reduced and Co-operative societies would purchase the machinery hired to farmers.

AMRITSAR
NOMINATED: Mr Jaspal Singh Kapur, state president, Janta Dal (U), has been nominated member of the Regional Advisory Committee of Central Warehousing Corporation for the Chandigarh region.

BLOOD DONATION: Twenty persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Sewa Bharti to Commemorate the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Rishi Balmik here on Thursday.

SCIENCE FAIR: A three-day state-level science fair will be organised by the Sarvhitkari Shiksha Samiti, a unit of the Vidya Bharti Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Sansthan, on the premises of Madhav Vidya Niketan Senior Secondary School, here on Friday, according to the Principal.

TALK: A seminar on multi-cultural society of Canada will be held on Friday and Saturday at Khalsa College in collaboration with the Indian Association of Canadian Studies. It will be presided over by the Principal, Dr S.S. Bawa, while Prof Om Kamra, Vice-President, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, will inaugurate it.

BARNALA
CHEMISTS HELD: Dr Narinder Bhargav, SSP, said the police arrested a chemist, Rajesh Kumar, and seized 6,000 intoxicant pills and 50 gm of intoxicant from his possession. Similarly 3,000 intoxicant pills, 140 capsules and 50 gm of intoxicant were seized from the chemist shop of Mitter Sain. Both are residents of Gobind Colony. Cases have been registered against them.

BATALA
CAMP: A two-day AIDS awareness camp organised by the NSS wing of S.L. Bawa D.A.V. College, Batala, concluded on Thursday. Mr V.K. Bhatia, Principal, said 280 youth attended the camp at Allen Memorial Public School.

DORAHA
Paper-reading: The English Literary Society of Guru Nanak National College here organised a paper-reading contest at the seminar hall of the college here on Wednesday. There were 15 participants. Ramandeep Kaur of BA II stood first.

FARIDKOT
LAUNCHED: The District Social Welfare Department launched a self-employment scheme here on Thursday. Inaugurating the scheme, Mr Hussan Lal, Deputy Commissioner, said initially 150 youths of age group 18 to 35 had been selected for the programme.

FEROZEPORE
MEETING: This district has emerged as leading district in the state in kinoow production. This was stated by Mr Vikas Pratap, Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over a meeting of the Agriculture Production Committee.

HOSHIARPUR
MEETING: To review the facilities being provided to the ex-Servicemen and their widows, a quarterly meeting of the District Sainik Welfare Department was held here on Wednesday. It was presided over by Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner. Col Rashem Singh, Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare Department, was also present, among others.

LUDHIANA
M.ED. Topper: Sonika Katyal of the Malwa Central College for Education has bagged the first position in the M.Ed examination conducted by Panjab University in May this year, scoring 575 marks out of 700. Manminder Kaur of the same college is second securing 572 marks.

Lecture: An extension lecture on developments in stock exchanges in India and the world was delivered by Dr. J.S. Pasricha, Professor and Head, Department of Commerce and Management, Punjabi University, Patiala, at Kamla Lohtia Sanatam Dharam College, here on Thursday. The queries of students and staff members were also answered.

Interaction: An interaction with Dr Surjit Patar, a Punjabi writer, was organised by the Punjab Sahitya Sabha, Punjabi Department, Government College for Boys, here on Thursday. He became emotional while talking of his book ‘Brikharj kare’.

Mandi Gobindgarh
Birth anniversary: The District Congress Committee, Fatehgarh Sahib, observed the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi at the office of Mr Pankaj Goyal, general secretary of the DCC, on Wednesday. A portrait of Indira Gandhi was presented to Brij Lal Goyal, vice-president, Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee.

PHAGWARA
DISCONNECTED: The telephone number (262900) in the office of the DSP, Phagwara, has been disconnected due to non-payment of bills. It is learnt that the bills totalling more than Rs 1 lakh are outstanding.

HARYANA

BHIWANI
VOTER LISTS: In view of the vacant seats, the local Municipal Council has commenced revision of voter lists and it will be completed by November 25. The District Election Officer, Mr H.S. Malik, said the revision of the lists would be done on the basis of Vidhan Sabha lists considering January 1, 2003, as qualifying date. He said 16 teams, comprising 60 officers and employees, had been constituted for smooth functioning of the revision work.

FATEHABAD
MEETING: The Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction at the recovery of market fees by various market committees of the district and asked the officials to take steps to prevent evasion of market fees. He said this while addressing a meeting of secretaries of all seven market committees of this district. He said so far Rs 90.05 lakh had been collected in the district as market fees.

DRIVE: The authorities have decided to get tough with water thieves in the district. A meeting in this regard was held here on Thursday, which was presided over by the Deputy Commissioner, Dr R.B. Langyan. He directed the officers concerned to remove illegal water connections by launching a drive from November 24.

SIX ARRESTED: The police on Thursday arrested six persons on charges of smuggling liquor. As many as 32 bottles of illicit liquor and 200 kg of lahan, were seized from their possession. The accused have been identified as Lal Singh, Gurdev Singh, Samarjit Singh, Sumer Singh, Ashok Kumar and Sukhdev Singh.

YAMUNANAGAR
CASH SNATCHED: Four miscreants looted cash from Nathi Ram at Pansara village on Wednesday. The miscreants also took away his motor cycle. A case has been registered.

THREE KILLED: Two persons were killed in two accidents. Bharat, a cyclist, was killed when his bicycle was hit by a tractor-trailer. In another accident, Shiv Kumar, a resident of Thana Chappar, was killed when he was crushed by a bus on Tuesday. 

SIRSA
EXECUTIVE BODY: The district president of the BJP announced its executive body here on Wednesday. The nominated office-bearers are: vice-presidents — Mr Kulwant Rai Jindal, Mr Vinod Kumar Sehag, Mr Ameer Chand Mehta and Ms Ratan Bala; general secretary — Mr Gurdev Singh Rahi; treasurer — Mr Pawan Ratusaria; and secretaries — Mr Rohtash Jangra, Mr Pawan Kumar Garg, Mr Trilok Chand Goyal and Mr Bahadur Singh Shekhawat.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kumarhatti
JORHJI MELA: The five day Jorhji Mela started at Jorhji village, near here, on Wednesday. Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, Himachal Pradesh Assembly, paid obeisance at a temple and a gurdwara located at the mela site on Wednesday. According to legend, Shravan had visited this place along with his parents.

SOLAN
29 HELD: As many as 29 persons were arrested on charges of gambling at Hotel Ashoka, here on Wednesday. The police seized gambling chits and Rs 22,000. All of them have been booked under the Gambling Act.

BILASPUR
THREE ARRESTED: The police has arrested three persons and seized six stills, illicit liquor and lahan. They were arrested from three different places in the Majari Khud area on Wednesday, according to the SP, Mr M. Chander Shekhar. The arrested persons have been identified as Upender Kumar, Kuldeep Singh and Johar Singh.

MANDI
THEFT: Cash and ornaments were stolen from the house of head constable at Bradhivir village on Wednesday. At the time of theft no one was present in the house. A case has been registered.

DIRECTORY: The Blood Transfusion Council of the blood bank here has decided to publish a directory of the blood donors. This was decided at a meeting held here on Thursday. The Beopar Mandal has agreed to bear the cost of the publication of the directory.

Sundernagar
OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Dile Ram newly elected president of the BJP of Mandi district, has announced the names of office-bearers of the district unit: vice-president — Col Ganga Ram Jamwal, Mr Hari Singh Verma, Col Inder Singh; general secretary — Mr Shyam Lal Thakur; secretary — Priyabrat Sharma, Mr Hem Raj Verma and Mr Kahan Singh; treasurer — Jamana Deve; and secretary — Asha Ram.