R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Abohar
Robbed: A widow was robbed of gold ornaments near Nirankari Bhavan outside the municipal bus stand here on Saturday evening. The widow, Bharawan Bai, was alone at her home when a “couple” entered her house on the pretext of making an enquiry about rented accommodation. The “couple” reportedly hit some thing on widow’s head and decamped with a necklace, earrings and gold bangles.

Poppy husk: The police has seized 35 bags of poppy husk from a truck laden with wheat bags during checking on the Sriganganagar-Abohar road. Three persons, were arrested under the NDPS Act. In two other searches, the police seized 140 kg poppy husk from a tractor-trailer and arrested three residents of Jalalabad on Friday night. The court remanded them in police custody for two days.

Amritsar
MERITORIOUS STUDENTS: Thirtyfive students of BBK DAV College for Women have secured merit positions in the Guru Nanak Dev University’s BA Part-I examination held in April 2004. The Principal, Mrs J. Kackria in a press note issued here on Sunday, said the pass percentage of the college was 81 per cent against the overall university percentage of 39 per cent.

NEW PRINCIPAL: Prof Dhani Ram took over as the new Principal of the prestigious DAV College here on Sunday. He had earlier served as Principal of DAV College, Batala and Nakodar.

LAND RESERVED: The Empowered Committee for Mega Projects to promote industry has decided to reserve 200 acre of land in Nangli village of this district near Khanna Paper Mills for industrial purposes. The Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Mr K.B.S. Sidhu in a notification has said the government had reserved 200 acres of land in the revenue estate in Nangli village only for setting up industries.

SAINIK WELFARE: The Sainik Welfare Department has issued directions that all ex-servicemen and widows should approach the Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare, for getting the purchase order signed for expensive items for the Army canteen like refrigerators, TV, motor cycle, scooter and AC.

Bathinda
New release: Harbhajan Maan has advocated the importance of Punjabi movies in promoting goodwill and cordial relations between India and Pakistan. Maan, who was here on Saturday to promote his new release, “Assan nu maan watna da”, said when cricket could be used as a platform to launch new initiatives by both governments to improve ties, Punjabi movies being made in India could be another channel for bringing both countries close.

Faridkot
Camp: The Braham Kumaris Raj Yog Kendra, Faridkot, will organise a two-day medical camp at Kotkapura and here from June 16. Dr Girish Patel from Mumbai will meet patients from 6 am to 8 am at Government Girls School at Kotkapura and at Amar Ashram from 7 pm to 9 pm.

TRAINING: A 20-day camp, organised by the Zila Parishad, Faridkot, to impart training to panches, sarpanches and members of block samitis and zila parishad about their rights, duties and responsibilities, began here on Saturday. They will also be given training for the proper utilisation of various types of Centrally-sponsored. Mr Hussan Lal, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the camp.

LUDHIANA
FREE SEMINARS: Protech Immigration Consultancy Services Ltd, a professional Canadian immigration and settlement firm, is conducting free seminars in Punjab (Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar) Mr Wallace J. Dhreja, Director, Global Operations — Protec, is here to impart information about immigration and settlement in Canada. Mr J.S. Puri, Managing Director, Protech is a member of Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC).

Moga
WATER SHORTAGE: Residents of the Civil Lines area have been facing an acute shortage of drinking water since the onset of summer season. Some of them informed that they had not received even a drop of drinking water for past several days not to talk of taking their daily bath. Repeated requests to the Moga Municipal Council have yielded no response.

PATIALA
AWARDED: Mr Manohar Lal Pawar has been awarded a cash prize of Rs 5,100 as a financial assistance for his book ‘Vidambana’. Earlier, he has written fours books including Anubhooti (poetry), Amardeep (poetry), Vatika (collection of articles) and Mahakaleshwar. 

Pathankot
FAST: The PSEB Diploma Engineers Association has decided to observe a week-long chain fast from June 14 in front of the PSEB board headquarters here to protest against the “indifferent” attitude of the board management towards their demands. The president of the association, Mr P.S. Bhatti, in a statement has said widespread resentment was prevailing among diploma engineers against the decision of the board to give charge of the JE to senior linemen.

Phillaur
DHUSSI BANDH: The Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, inspected the Dhussi bandh near Sangewal village and Jhandi Peer on Sunday. The Deputy Commissioner instructed the officials to take all types of precautionary measures and undertake repair works before monsoon. He said repair works on Dhussi bandh would be done on priority basis. The Deputy Commissioner sanctioned a sum of Rs 2 lakh for the disposal of dirty water in Sangewal village.

CHANDIGARH

PANCHKULA
OLD-AGE PENSION: The beneficiaries under the old-age pension scheme of the state government will be verified again and new list of the beneficiaries will be made, said the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam P. Kasni, while presiding over the monthly meeting of officers on Saturday. She asked the officers to verify the beneficiaries and ensure that non-deserving people do not take the benefit of the pension. The DC also asked the SDM, Panchkula, Mr Virender Dahiya, to ensure that the poultry farmers in Barwala and Raipur Rani blocks spray insecticides regularly. The PWD department was asked to ensure adequate drinking water supply in the rural and hilly areas of the district. 

Book Released: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam P. Kasni, on Saturday released “Mehak Pyar Di” - a book by Kidar Nath Kidar at a ceremony at Red Bishop on Saturday. Major (retd) A.S. Shergill, Director, Haryana Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, presided over the function. A kavi darbar was also organised on the occasion and poets like Gurdial Singh Araf, R. D. Taseer, Manjit Indra and Sudershan Walia had the atmosphere charged with their geets and ghazals.

SUMMER CAMP: The summer camp organised by the Osho Dhara Meditation Centre since May 30, concluded on Saturday. The success of the camp was that it helped bring out the hidden talents of children. The children made a presentation of their multidimensional art forms, and group swimming was organised in the pool at the centre. Later, a ghazal recital was organised and prominent singers like Niraj Gandhi, Jugal Kishore Bhardwaj and Tarachand participated. Swami Sanjay Bharti, executive editor of Osho Times, Pune, and Swami Bhart Bharti from Delhi was also present on the occasion.

Mandir Sabha: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shri Durga Mandir Sabha, Sector 7: president — Mr Ram Bilas Aggarwal; general secretary — Mr Raghbir Chand; and chairman — Col D.C. Bhalla.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Honoured: The Managing Director of OSWA Agro, Ambala cantonment Mr Luxmi Sagar, was awarded ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in the field of trade and industry at the annual session of the Ambala Scientific Instruments Manufacturing Association (ASIMA) held at Haryana Tourism Centre Ambala city, on Saturday. Others who were offered outstanding entrepreneur awards include Mr Narender Bhola (Gem Optech), Mr Sanjay Gupta (Mares Electronics), Mr Ranjit Singh (Radical instruments) and Mr Surender Jain (Glassco). 

Bhiwani
EVENING SHIFTS: The Haryana Government College Teachers Association has expressed concern over the state government’s decision to close evening shifts and reduce seats for admission for the year 2004-05 in government colleges in Haryana. The secretary of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (AIFUCTO), Atam Prakash and general secretary of HGCTA, Karan Singh, said that this was a retrograde step.

BAN ON TOBACCO: Deputy Commissioner Mahtab Singh Sehrawat on Friday ordered a ban on the sale of tobacco products within a radius of 100 metres of the educational institutions and to persons below 18 years of age.

12 BOOKED: The police on Friday booked 12 persons for the evasion of Stamp Duty at Rattia in the district. The booked are Ramesh Kumar, Bahal Singh, Randhir, Jugal Kishore, Satish, Suresh Rani, Kashmir Singh, Prithvi Chand, Pritam Singh, Subhash Chander, Jeet Rani and Ajit Singh.

JHAJJAR
SAINT CREMATED: Body of Saint Indramani was cremated here on Friday. He was 103 and a follower of the Kabir Panth (Creed). Puran Singh, four-year-old child was made head of the Ashram.

Kaithal
COMPUTERISATION: Haryana Advocate-General Ashok Aggarwal said here on Saturday that the state government had decided to computerise all district courts in the state. The work in this direction for Ambala courts would be completed by July 31. Mr Aggarwal said the matter of construction of lawyers’ chambers in the district courts would be resolved by the building committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the summer vacation.

POWER CUTS: Resentment prevails among residents of Cheeka town of this district over the frequent power cuts. Residents blame that inspite of protests the authorities had not bothered to improve the power supply.

Sonepat
COURTS INSPECTED: Mr Justice Aushotosh Mahunta of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday visited courts at Sonepat and Gohana and interacted with the Bar councils. The District Bar Association Sonepat submitted a memorandum to him, demanding appointment of an Urdu translator in the courts. The association also demanded separate days for the hearing of criminal and civil cases, and files in record room to be placed village-wise and ward-wise to facilitate easy tracing of case files.

BODY FOUND: The body of Sunil, a youth from Joli village in Gohana subdivision of the district, was recovered from sugarcane fields at Bawli village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. An uncle of the victim, Dharam Chand, informed that the Barot Police recovered a telephone number slip and photograph from Sunil’s pocket and intimated the family to come to Barot and identify the body. 

COLLEGE STAFF PROTEST: Employees of the CR State College of Engineering demonstrated at Murthal village , 8 km from here on Friday in protest against the proposal of the state government to hand over the college to a society. The employees threatened direct action if the move was implemented. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
ELECTED: Mr Ram Lal Thakur, a former senior vice-president of the District Congress Committee and former chairman of the Bilaspur Sadar Block Development Committee, has been elected president of the Bilaspur District Ex-servicemen Truck Operators Union.

ACTION DEMANDED: The Village Vikas Samiti, Khannh-Ghungraad president, Garjaram Chandel, has expressed dissatisfaction over poor matriculation examination results of Government High School, Chandpur. Only 13 students out of 93 passed the examination. In a representation to the Chief Minister, he demanded an inquiry into the poor result of the school.

CRAFTS TEACHERS: The notification of the Education Department directing schools not to post any crafts teacher has caused resentment among crafts teachers selected recently in Sundernagar subdivision. Meanwhile, crafts teachers from Sundernagar subdivision, who were refused postings by the principals/headmasters of various schools, have reportedly threatened to challenge the orders in the High Court. The candidates whose results had been declared before the Lok Sabha elections had been given the appointments while others whose results were declared after the elections are without jobs due to the instructions.