R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
VCs’ CONFERENCE: As many as 30 Vice-Chancellors will participate in the three-day North Zone Vice-Chancellors Conference, 2004, which will be held at Guru Nanak Dev University from October 7, in its Guru Nanak Dev Auditorium. The conference will be organised by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi, for the first time here. Mr R.L. Bhatia, Governor of Kerala, will inaugurate it while Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister, will preside over it.

Bathinda
COMPETITION: The Department of Youth Welfare, DAV College, organised a talent search competition-cum-cultural programme on the college premises. In a press release issued here on Thursday, Dr J.S. Anand, Principal, said the competition was organised to select teams that would represent the college in the coming Bathinda-Faridkot zone youth festival. Mr K.A.P. Sinha, Deputy Commissioner, was the chief guest.

KILLED: A woman was killed in a road accident near Zila Parishad office on the Goneana road here on Thursday. Sources said the incident took place when a Punjab Roadways bus coming from the opposite direction hit the victim's scooter. She was admitted to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

Jagraon
SCOOTERIST KILLED: A scooterist, Manjitpal Singh, of Bhanaur was killed on the spot on the GT Road near Dakha when his scooter was hit by an unidentified vehicle. The Dakha police has registered a case under Sections 279, 427, 304A of the IPC.

Poppy husk seized: The police has arrested Surinder Singh of Kaimwala and Gurbhej Singh of Bhode from the area of Ghuman and recovered 52.4 kg of poppy husk from their possession. The police has registered case under Sections 15/60/61/85 of the NDPS Act. In another incident, the police arrested Thana Singh of Rasulpur from the area of bridge canal Dangian and seized 21kg of the narcotics and booked the accused under the same offence.

MAN DIES OF SNAKEBITE: Aloo Das (22) of Harsanda (Bengal), who was employed in Bhagwati Rice Mills here, died of snakebite on Saturday. He was sleeping in his room in the mill when a snake bit him. Another labourer caught the snake and took Aloo Das to the local Civil Hospital where he died. His body was handed over to his relatives after the post-mortem. 

PANEL’S DECISION: An action panel and residents of Dhaner, along with members of various organisations, have decided to organise a dharna and traffic blockade at Raikot on Monday to put pressure on the police to arrest the in-laws of Harpinder Kaur. The bodies of Harpinder Kaur and her son were found in separate canals. One person has already been arrested in the case.

Sangrur
FRESHERS PARTY: A freshers party “Genesis 2004” was organised by second-year students of the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur to welcome and explore the talent of freshers of the 2004 batch on the college campus on Friday. The students presented various cultural items.

CHANDIGARH

APPOINTED: Mr Rahul Kataria has been appointed president of the Scheduled Caste cell of the Panchkula Block Congress Committee. He is also the district unit president of the Haryana Dalit Sahitya Academy. 

HARYANA

Hisar
BLOOD DONATED: A blood donation camp was organised to mark International Blood Donation Day here on Friday. The camp, organised by the District Red Cross Society, was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Balbir Singh Malik. Secretary of the society Ravinder Lohan said tricycles and hearing aids were distributed among the physically challenged persons on the occasion.

SCIENTIST HONOURED: The Rice-Wheat Consortium of CIMMYT, Mexico, has honoured Dr R.K. Malik, Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Haryana Agricultural University, for the distinguished work done by him and his team in the evolution of the zero-tillage technology in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Dr Larry Harrington, Director, Natural Resource Management, CIMMYT, presented him the award during the national conference on conservation agriculture that concluded in New Delhi on Thursday.

Panipat
BODY RECOVERED: The body of an aged woman has been recovered from the fields of Samalkha subdivision of Panipat district. The body was brought to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem. The deceased was later identified as Shakuntala (55)of Samalkha. However, it could not be known how she died. An FIR in this regard was registered at the police station and further investigations were on.

Sonepat
TRAFFIC BLOCKED: A large number of people blocked traffic on the Sonepat-Rathdhanna road near Bandepur village, about 3 km from here, on Saturday in protest against the erratic power supply and unscheduled power cuts imposed by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN).

ARRESTED: The Mahila police on Saturday claimed to have arrested Jai Narain of Vikas Nagar in a dowry death case. According to another report, the Ganaur police today arrested youth Dinesh of Rajlu Garhi village in connection with the alleged murder of a woman. The Murthal police also arrested Parkash of Murtha village on the charge of causing nuisance after consuming liquor in the village. The police also arrested Ashok of Butana village under Section 392 of the IPC and Ram Avtar of Mahindergarh on the charge of theft.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kumarhatti
3 CARS SEIZED: The police has arrested a suspected car thief and seized three cars from him at Raboon village on the Barog bypass, near here, on Friday. A case under Section 411 of the IPC has been registered against Mr Ramesh Chand, a resident of Udaipur village, near here, for failing to provide authentic details and documents of vehicles. The impounded cars were, Tata Sierra (CH-01-Q-7791), Cielo (UP-25E-3999) and Maruti 800 (DL-2CE-9350).

STRIKE FROM OCT 4: The Employees Association of the Central Research Institute (CRI) of Kasauli, will hold a five-day relay hunger strike from October 4 in support of nationwide protest of the Central Health Employees Federation over 15- point demand charter. The strike will be held in front of the CRI main gate. It was disclosed jointly by Mr Manoj Kumar and Mr Naresh Kumar Attri, president and vice-president of the association, respectively, on Friday.

YOUTH KILLED: A pall of gloom descended at Barog following the death of a local youth in an accident on Friday. Devinderjeet Singh, alias Raja a son of a retired IPH official, lost control of Tata Safari on a link road leading to his home around 11.30 pm. The vehicle fell into an artificially built water pool. The youth lay unconscious in the vehicle for some time. He was declared brought dead at hospital.

Shimla
APPOINTED: Mr Deepak Gupta, a high court lawyer, has been appointed Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. He will be sworn in as Judge of the high court on October 4. This was informed by Registrar General of the high court Aruna Kapoor.

Sundernagar
1 DEAD IN MISHAP: One person was killed and another seriously injured in a road accident on Friday when a speeding jeep dashed against a motor cycle on the national highway near Dhanotu village, about 3 km from here. According to the police both injured were admitted to a local hospital. Shyam Lal Samkal died while on the way to the PGI, Chandigarh, in the evening and injured Om Parkash of Nehara was admitted to Government Hospitals in Sundernagar. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304A of the IPC against the driver.