R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
HOMAGE: Tributes were paid to martyrs of Punjab Home Guards and Civil Defence during celebrations of its 43rd Raising Day here on Saturday. Mr Bachan Singh, Deputy Battalion Commander (Border), read out congratulatory notes of Mr L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister, Mr N. Gopala Swami, Home Secretary, Mr B.L. Vohra, Director-General (Civil Defence) and Commandant-General in Chief, Home Guards, and Mr Tejinder Singh, Deputy Commandant-General, Punjab Home Guards, and Deputy Director (Civil Defence), Punjab. Mr Anantjit Singh Sandhu, District Commander, Punjab Home Guards, also congratulated all the officers and jawans.

Ludhiana
Tributes paid: Tributes were paid to Mohan Singh, a renowned social personality and brother of Mayor Nahar Singh Gill, on his shardhanjali samaroh held at Sherpur, near here, on Sunday. A condolence message was read out on behalf of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Prominent among others who paid tributes were Mr H.S. Hanpal, president of the PPCC, Chaudhry Jagjit Singh, Local Government Minister, Mr Tej Parkash Singh, Transport Minister, Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Housing, Urban Development and Jails Minister, Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, MP, Mr Amrik Singh Aliwal, ex-MP, Mr Anurag Verma, DC, Mr S.K. Sharma, MC Commissioner, Mr Malkiat Singh Dakha, Mr Surinder Dawar (both MLAs), Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Mr Darshan Singh Brar, Mr Ishar Singh (former ministers), Mr Jagmohan Sharma, president of the DCC(U), Mr Harmohinder Singh Pardhan, president, DCC, Mr Ramesh Joshi, Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran and Mr Amarjit Singh Tikka, senior vice-president of the PYC.

Mandi Gobindgarh
WELCOMED: Mr Hari Chand, district chief of class IV employees, and Mr Avtar Singh Cheema, general secretary of the employees joint action committee, in a joint statement have welcomed the decision of a joint call given by the state and UT employees’ action committee to hold rallies on December 11 in front of DC office against non-payment of three months salary.

Pathankot
CHEMIST BOOKED: The police has booked a local chemist, Asim Sharma, for selling drugs without prescription. Mr Sulakhan Singh, SHO, division No 2, said the culprit had been arrested following the recovery of intoxicants in a large quantity from his shop. He said the police had acted on a tip-off to arrest the chemist selling intoxicants and other drugs without prescriptions from doctors.

CHANDIGARH

ANNUAL GET-TOGETHER: The third annual get-together of the Rohtak Medical Alumni Association, Chandigarh, was organised at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, here on Sunday. More than 50 families associated with the association participated in the function. A directory of life members of the association was released on the occasion. 

Panchkula
Visit: The local Member of Parliament, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, on Sunday visited various villages in the district and announced development works from his MP Development Fund. Accompanied by the district president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr Baldev Nayyar, and other senior party leaders — Mr Harbilas Jindal and Mr Sham Lal Sachdeva — Mr Kataria visited Kami, Sunderpur, Barwala, Rattewali, Khatauli, Taprian, Sabeelpur, Shiamtu and Tibbi villages. He also visited Rajiv Colony in the evening and announced construction of community toilets from his fund. 

Annual day: The annual rhymes, dance and sports day of Woodlands House School was held here on Saturday. Around 100 tiny tots participated in the function. The day began with a welcome dance. In sporting events, children participated in a frog race, rabbit race and other fun games.

Elected: Mr Vijay K. Raina has been elected president of the local branch of the Kashmiri Pandit Sabha. The other office-bearers are: vice-president — Ms Indira Sapru; general secretary — Mr Manoj Bhan; joint secretary — Mr Kanwal Handoo; finance secretary — Mr R.L. Bhat; and editor — Ms Mohini Raina. 

HARYANA

Kaithal
SEIZED: The police seized 159 bottles of illicit liquor, 700 kg lahan 203 kg poppy husk and 700 gm of opium during November. Giving this information to mediapersons here on Saturday, Mr Sukh Dev Singh, Superintendent of Police said the police also seized two pistols, three cartridges and stolen property worth 25,000. An amount of Rs 2,870 was also seized under the Gambaling Act, he added.

RKSD COLLEGE: An impressive gathering of alumni of RKSD post-graduate College here enjoyed cultural programmes in the college campus on Friday night. The gathering of old students of the college coincided with the golden jubliee celebrations of the college which was well decorated for the occasion. Mr Y.K. Mangal, president of the governing body of the college who was the chief guest of the function, said the college management and administration were keen to establish contact with old students of this institution and utilise their services for the betterment of the students. He also highlighted the achievements made by the college in various fields during past 50 years.

Kurukshetra
ACCREDITED: Prof V.S. Prasad, Director of National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission, has intimated the Principal of University College of Education of Kurukshetra University that the college has been accredited for a period of five years with B++ Grade (institutional score between 80-85 per cent. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
DRINKING WATER: The Himachal Government has finalised a proposal for providing drinking water at Jamthal for oustees’ rehabilitation colony and also Harnoda and the proposal is being handed over to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for providing funds to the IPH Department. This was announced by Deputy Commissioner Subhasheesh Panda while presiding over a meeting of the district-level Kol Dam Project Rehabilitation and Advisory Committee here on Friday.

Nahan
KANDI PROJECT: Presiding over a district-level coordination committee meeting for Kandi Project at Suketi, the Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Mr M.L. Sharma, asked project officials to construct a pond in Suketi Fossil Park. This will provide drinking water to the wildlife in the park, and improve the quality of the land in the area. Raising of fruit trees will sustain wildlife in the park. Mr Sharma said there was a need for interlinkage of activities with other departments for better results. Intensive activities would be carried out in the field where specialised agriculture and horticulture techniques would be demonstrated to the farmers.

Nurpur
FOETICIDE: Himachal Pradesh Women Commission chairperson Viplove Thakur, while addressing mediapersons here on Saturday, reiterated that the commission had been taking all possible steps to check female foeticide in the state. She said the commission had submitted its recommendations to the state government for monitoring clinical laboratories and conducting inspection of their functioning in the state. Besides, female health workers and anganwari female workers are to keep a vigil on pregnant women in their respective rural areas and report female foeticide, if any, to the government or the commission, she added.

BUS SERVICES: In a sudden move, the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) on Friday terminated its bus services on the Jassur-Dhiala, Jassur-Kuther, Jassur-Badukhar and Jassur Rey routes in Nurpur and Jawali subdivisions causing a lot of resentment among commuters. The commuters said these services were started more than two decades ago. There is a demand to restore these bus services.

Palampur
REGISTRAR: Mr Vikas Labroo, HAS officer, on Saturday took over as the new Registrar of HP Agricultural University here. Prior to his new assignment, he was holding the position of Secretary, HP Board of School Education and Board of Technical Education. During his 15 years’ service, Mr Labroo had served as SDM, Pangi. He had also served as Additional District Magistrate, Sirmaur.