R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
WON: Manav Public School here claimed top honours in a state-level science competition organised jointly by the Children Science Congress and Punjab State Council for Science and Technology held at Chandigarh. Ms Gurpal Tuli, Principal, said the school achieved the first position while Government School, Nawanshahr, came second and the third position was won by local S.L. Bhavan Public School.

SANCTIONED: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has offered a major research project to Dr T.D. Narang, Prof of Mathematics at Guru Nanak Dev University, to conduct research on "Approximation and Fixed Points in Abstract Spaces". According to a university's press release, the UGC had sanctioned Rs 4.21 lakh for the project.

FUNCTION: Ms Ratna, chairperson of the State Social Welfare Board, on Monday offered 35 schemes for uplifting the poor widows. Ms Ratna, who was presiding over the 29th monthly widow ration distribution function organised by the Chinmaya Mission, said the board had various schemes for providing vocational training to widows for making them self-dependent.

CELEBRATED: A function marked the birth anniversary of the famous Punjabi writer and poet, Bhai Veer Singh, at his residence here on Monday. Former Deputy Commissioner and in charge of Bhai Veer Singh Museum Sarabjit Singh said the poet's writings were displayed at the memorial during the function.

Gurdaspur
ORGANISED: A drugs awareness camp was organised in the Institute of Hotel Management here on Monday. Mr Ramesh Mahajan, project manager of the local Drug De-addiction Centre, said according to a survey conducted by the centre about 31 per cent of drug addicts in the district were students of the professional colleges.

Hoshiarpur
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the state unit of the Meter Readers Association: president - Mr Ravinder Nath Sharma; general secretary - Mr Gian Singh Pannu; senior vice-presidents - Mr Baldev Singh and Mr Charanjit Singh Randhawa; vice-presidents - Mr Ram Singh, Mr Kulwant Singh Maan, Mr Gurmit Singh, and Mr Amrik Singh; secretary - Mr Ishwar Singh.

NOMINATED: Mr Parveen Lasara, district president of the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha, has nominated the following as office-bearers of the unit: vice-presidents - Mr Satbir Singh, Mr Ekam Kumra, Mr Hoshiar Singh Goldi and Mr Major Singh; general secretary - Mr Amit Sajan; secretaries - Mr Sandip Sharma and Mr Anil Kohli; and cashier - Mr Arvind Aeri.

Jagraon
Girl Abducted: Amritpal Singh, Hardev Singh, Jit Singh, sons of Gurnam Singh and Harbans Singh son of Surjit Singh, all of Rurka village are allegedly abducted a young girl (18) of their village. The Dakha police has registered a case against them under sections 363, 366 120B of the IPC on the statement of Kuldip Singh brother of the victim.

DHARNA: patwaris of Jagraon tehsil circle sat in dharna in front of the local SDM’s office in response to the call given by their union. President of the team Gurbax Singh and Senior Vice President Satinder Pal Singh demanded the withdrawal of the cases and alleged the same to be false. They also demanded action against the vigilance officers.

Rally against police: Teachers and workers of various organisations took out a protest rally in this town of Jagraon raising anti police slogans against the incharge police post Hathur and one Darshan Singh of their village and were demanding immediate withdrawal of the case registered against Mr Sardara Singh, head teacher of government primary school Chakkar. Addressing the gathering near the office of the local SDM, Avtar Singh President government teacher union, condemned the police post incharge Hathur who registered a false case against Mr Sardara Singh on the complaint of Darshan Singh of village Hathur for alleged sale of 50 kg of wheat meant for the students. Mr Mohinder Singh Kamalpura President DTF and member of the state committee while addressing said that Sardara Singh has even not claimed medical bills of Rs two lakh of his wife and at his own expenses got installed 80 street tube lights in the village.

They also presented a memorandum to the local SDM for an inquiry and to get booked the real culprit Jarnail Singh of Chakkar village.

Ludhiana
BRIDAL SHOES: Metro Shoes has come out with a new series of bridal shoes and bags. Beaded with pearls, colourful sequins, with silver and gold embroidery, crystals, rhinestones, silver-linked chains and satin heels. Bags offer embroidered brocade enhanced with beads and sequins in gold and silver hues.

Seminar: The Ludhiana Management Association will organise a seminar on New Visions for Better Management and Key Factors for becoming Creative on December 10 here. Dr Girish Patel, will be the keynote speakers on the occasion.

Sangrur
AWARDED: Dr Vivek Bhatnagar, secretary of the local unit of the Indian Dental Association (IDA), was conferred the "Best Secretary" award of the IDA in the state for the third consecutive year. The award was given to him at the 44th Punjab State Dental Conference, held recently.

CHANDIGARH

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Category II of CHB Complex, Sector 51-A: president — Mr C.L. Sharma; vice-president — Mr S.K. Juneja; general secretary — Mr S.S. Bhardwaj; joint secretary — Mr Prem Singh; finance secretary — Mr Janak Raj Sharma; and press secretary — Mr Ajay Sharma.

Mohali
BLOOD DONATION: The Baba Shiekh Farid Blood Donors Council here will organise the 34th blood donation camp on December 15 in collaboration with the New Life Blood Donors and Social Welfare Society, Punjab. The camp will be held near the Municipal Council’s office in Phase VII from 9.30 am to 3 pm.

Panchkula
Principal honoured: Captain Sanjay Anand, Principal of Doon Public School, Sector 21, Panchkula, has been awarded the "Avantika Shakuntalam Samman" by Avantika, a group of contemporary artists and intellectuals, for his valuable contribution in nation building, social service, environmental preservation, education and promotion of Indian art, culture, dance and music.

Safai abhiyan: The Municipal Council today launched a special sanitation drive in Sector 9 here. A team of 40 safai karamcharis was specially requisitioned for sprucing up the sector by removing all garbage and cleaning all internal and outer roads. The drive was launched by Municipal Council President, Ms Seema Chaudhary. The drive in Sector 9 will continue for another day and will be launched in Sector 4 later this week. The MC President also inaugurated the newly purchased Bob-Cat machine for lifting malba here.

Rural housing scheme: The Kalka branch of the State Bank of Patiala has decided to extend a rural housing scheme to the residents of Kalka and neighbouring areas. Mr S. C. Dhall, Manager of the bank said this scheme has been formulated with long-term repayment programme in order to cover the rural population and a special team had been formulated to visit villages and create awareness among rural masses. 

Meditation camp: A three-day meditation camp is being organised at Jainendra Public School, Sector 1, under the guidance of Acharya Shri Shiv Muni. The camp will be open for parents of school children, as well as public.

MC at your door: The Municipal Council's 'At your Door Step' programme will be organised at a park near House number 1729 in Sector 4 tomorrow. The public grievances related to the working of the MC will be heard by the President, Ms Seema Chaudhary. Similar programmes will also be held at village Maheshpur in the morning on December 12 and in the evening at Sector 11 community centre.

Ceremony: A ceremony to mark the Armed Forces Flag Day was held at Mini Secretariat here. The representatives of the District Sainik Board appealed to the officials to donate money for the families of soldiers killed in war or in anti- insurgency operations.

HARYANA

Kaithal
CONSTRUCTION WORK: The Chief Parliament Secretary, Mr Ram Pal Mazra said that construction work of water channels was going on a warfooting in the state and of Rs 351 crore will be spent on these works. He said construction work of 138 canals and 44 drains under the Irrigation Department had been completed. Mr Mazra was addressing a public meeting at Kakot village after laying the foundation stone of a new school building, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 3.10 lakh under the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan, on Monday. He said the government had sanctioned Rs 10 crore for development works in the Pai Assembly constituency. He further said that the state government had increased the rate of sugarcane from Rs 110 to Rs 117 per quintal.

SEMINAR: Mr R.K. Malik, Director, Extension Education, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, called upon farmers to adopt resource conservation techniques to increase production and reduce cost of production. He was addressing farmers and agricultural scientists at a seminar jointly organised by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra and the Pargati Kisan Club on the subject of rabi crops and forestry here on Monday.

Panipat
TICKETLESS TRAVEL: As many as 72 ticketless travellers were caught by a special raiding team at Panipat railway station on Monday. Railway sources said 42 of them were allowed to go when they deposited a total of Rs 30,000 as fine, while the remaining 30 ticketless passengers were sent to Ambala jail when they failed to deposit the fine.

Sonepat
MEMORANDUM: The local unit of the Postal Employees Union on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vidya Dhar, demanding immediate release of Assistant Post-Master Jagdish Nehra, who had been arrested by the police in connection with fraud committed by Manohar Lal, a small saving agent.

FINE: The District Consumer Forum has imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the local BSNL authorities for adopting a negligent attitude in repairing the telephone fault and causing mental agony to the subscriber, Surender Malik, of the local Shastri Colony, the BSNL authorities have been directed to pay the fine to the subscriber.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
RESERVATION: The Himachal Pradesh State Gujjar Welfare Parishad has taken strong exception to the fact that the constitutional provision of 7.50 per cent reservation for tribal people has been reduced to 5 per cent in the state. Presided over by state president Ramesh Yadav, the meeting of the state executive of the parishad here on Monday, urged the Chief Minister to look into the matter and restore 7.50 per cent reservation for the Scheduled Tribes in the state.

Kumarhatti
TECHNICAL EDUCATION: To strengthen the technical education, the state government has spent Rs 6.34 crore, which was 49 per cent high from the Budget outlay for education in the past fiscal year. Stating this while speaking at the annual function of Government Senior Secondary School, Arki, on Monday, Thakur Dharampal, Deputy Speaker of HP Vidhan Sabha, said the technical education was quite helpful to curb unemployment. He announced Rs 2 lakh for the construction of two additional rooms, besides Rs 3,100 to facilitate the culture activities in the school.

Nahan
RALLY: BJP workers of the district under the leadership of Mr B.S. Bhandari, state secretary and Mr Sukh Ram, district BJP president and party MLA from Paonta Sahib took out a protest march against the price rise in the country on Monday. They submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President of India, to the Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, demanding the immediate dismissal of the Union Government as it had ‘totally failed’ in controlling rising prices in the country. They raised slogans against the Manmohan government and state Congress government.

Nurpur
ARRESTED: With the intervention of the local Subdivisional Magistrate, the police arrested Chandu Ram and Usman, manager and a operator, respectively, of cable television network on Monday, allegedly for showing a pornographic film on Saturday. A case under Sections 292 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused.

DOWRY CASE: The police on Monday arrested Sita Ram, Sharota Devi and Daljeet Singh of Bardi village for allegedly harassing Sumana Devi for dowry. The police has registered a case under Section 498(A) of the IPC against the accused. Jasbir Singh, husband of Sumana Devi, was still to be arrested.

RESENTMENT: The farmers of the region have resented against the short supply of fertilizers. According to the farmers of the area, the sowing season of the wheat crop is in full swing but the short supply of fertilizers has hit the sowing causing concern to the farming community. They alleged that despite persistent demand of the farmers the concerned department had failed to provide adequate supply to the farmers. They urged the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, to direct the concerned authorities to make available different varieties of fertilizers to the farmers in Kangra district.