R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
ARRESTED: The police has arrested Raj Kumar, alias Raju Ghalluwala, in connection with a loot at the house of a Congress Councillor, Mrs Veerbala Nagpal, here on the night of January 17, 2001. Raj Kumar was remanded in police custody for two days by the court here. Sources said after an investigation by the then DSP, Mr Gurmeet Singh Randhawa, the police had arrested Kulwant Singh Abdulkhurana and Balam Dass Talli of Shivrampura immediately after the incident.

COMPLAINT: The SDM, Mr Jaskiran Singh, has sought a fact report from the SHO, Khuyiansarwer, on a complaint made by a woman of Jhorarkher village here. The woman, who is married, alleged that some residents of the village forcibly entered her house and tried to abduct her as she had refused to continue working at the house of one of them after expiry of a six-month contract. She alleged that the farmers named in the complaint were armed. She forced them to flee by raising an alarm.

JBT TEACHERS: Mr Shashi Pal Gupta, Principal of Government Senior Secondary School, has expressed concern over the poor working conditions of the JBT teachers. Inaugurating a seminar for teachers under the Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan at Teachers Home here, Mr Gupta said lecturers took only two or three classes a day but the JBT teachers had to work for eight hours daily. They also had to perform additional duties assigned by the state government from time to time under various non-educational schemes.

BATHINDA
BEREAVED: Gurbachan Kaur, wife of Mr Bhupinder Singh, local correspondent of UNI, died on Wednesday evening due to cardiac arrest. A section of the mediapersons on Thursday held a meeting and expressed grief over the sudden demise of Gurbachan Kaur.

HOSHIARPUR
SEWERAGE BILLS: Residents of various localities of the city, including women, held a procession and demonstrated in the main bazars of the city in protest against the local municipal council authorities sending them bills of their sewerage connections according to the new approved rates which are three to five times higher than the old rates. The residents presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.

KHAMANO
TRUCKERS' MEETING: The DSP of Khamano held a meeting at the Truck Union here to educate the drivers about traffic rules. Drivers of the Tempo Union were also called to the meeting. He appealed the drivers to abide by traffic rules to save accidents.

KHANNA
MASJID SEWADAR LOOTED: Some unidentified persons injured a sewadar of a mosque and looted cash from the mosque donated by the devotees on Thursday night. In village Narain Garh two persons, Krishan and Kake Shah Kadri, were working as sewadars in the village mosque. On Thursday a large amount in cash was donated. In the evening sewadar Kake Shah Kadri went out of station and Krishan remained alone in the mosque. At night some persons entered the mosque and attacked Krishan with sharp-edged weapons and injured him. On Friday morning some devotees found the sewadar in seriously injured condition. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital Khanna. Due to his serious condition he was referred to a hospital in Ludhiana. The police has registered a case.

R-DAY FUNCTION: A meeting to chalk out arrangements to celebrate Republic Day was organised in the tehsil office complex under the chairmanship of SDM Jaspal Mittal on Friday. At the meeting, which was attended by officials of the administration and principals of different schools, Mr Mittal told that the function would be organised at Government Senior Secondary School, Khanna. A march-past would be held by Punjab police, Home Guards and NCC units.

REFLECTORS: The District Transport Department, in collaboration with the Rotary Club, fixed reflectors on more than 100 tractor-trailers here on Thursday on the Rahon road under the ongoing Road Safety Week being observed in the district.

DAIRY FARMING: Mr Vikas Garg, ADC (Development), at a function organised by the District Rural Development Agency at nearby Ram Raipur village gave away a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to a self-help group of Scheduled Caste women for starting dairy farming under an SGSY Centre-sponsored scheme, on Friday. He said out of the 60 self-help groups constituted in the district, as many as 41 groups had been covered under the scheme and loans amounting to Rs 115.91 lakh had been provided to them for starting self-employment ventures.

INAUGURATED: Ms Santosh Kataria, chairperson, Zila Parishad, inaugurated sewing training centres at Bharapur, Chandpur Rurki and Pojewal villages falling in the Balachaur subdivision of the district on Thursday.

INSPECTION: The chairperson, Zila Parishad, conducted an inspection of the Health Centre, Saroya, on Thursday and found six employees absent from duty.

PATHANKOT
DHARNA: Safai sewaks here under the joint banner of the Akhil Bharatiya Safai Mazdoor Union and the Water Supply Employees Union staged a dharna and demonstrated in front of the council’s office on Thursday to demand the release of their salaries immediately.

KILLED: One person was killed and five others were injured on Thursday afternoon at Bhoor village, about 15 km from here, when a private bus rammed into a rehri. According to eyewitnesses, the bus, coming from the Jalandhar side, went out of control and rammed into the rehri injuring two customers. Titoo, a local resident, died on the spot.

RALLY HELD: Activists of the PWD Field and Workshop Union (Punjab) on Friday held a protest rally here. It was addressed by the local president of the union, Mr Rajinder Kumar, and others. The union workers demanded equal work equal pay and five per cent bonus for the employees.

PHAGWARA
STORE GUTTED: The first floor of a grocery store on the local Banga road was gutted in a fire on Friday causing loss worth Rs 2 lakh. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained. The local fire brigade took over held an hour in extinguishing the fire. Mr Ravinder Kumar Handa, owner of the store, said he noticed a smoldering fire in the morning when he opened the store.

ARRESTED: The police on Friday arrested Ashok Kumar and Vipin Kumar of Kotla in Himachal Pradesh for running an illegal liquor vend at nearby Duggan village and seized 240 bottles of liquor. The duo had rented a room in the village for opening the illegal vend.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
KOL DAM OUSTEES: Kol Dam oustees of Bohat-Kasol have expressed their inability to look after their fields from Shedpa, 6 km from their village, and sought rehabilitation near the village. They told this to Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Industries Minister, here on Wednesday.

CHAMBA
DEGREE SCAM: Instead of providing employment to Himachalis in the ongoing hydroelectric projects, more than 200 doctors were appointed by the Dhumal government from outside the state. Some of these doctors had forged degrees. Levelling these allegations Mr Harsh Mahajan, Animal Husbandry Minister said here on Friday that a high-level probe would be conducted into the doctors’ degree scam.

NURPUR
BUS OPERATORS: The Transport Minister, Mr G.S. Bali, has warned private bus operators against evading passenger tax and their failure to ply buses on the routes for which permits had been granted to them. Talking to mediapersons at Rey in the Jawali subdivision on Thursday, Mr Bali said he was again going to check private buses at the end of this month, adding that route permits of bus operators found defaulting would be cancelled.