R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
PROTEST: The Government School Teachers Union will protest in front of the office of the District Education Officer here on Friday against the alleged decision of the Deputy Commissioner for forcing primary schoolteachers to work as 'cooks' in schools. Mr Baldev Raj Sharma and Mr Balkar Valtoha, district president and general secretary, respectively, of the union, said here that this would hamper the studies of students.

Hoshiarpur
SECTION 144: District Magistrate D.K. Tiwari has imposed Section 144 of the Cr PC in the district. He has banned the assembly of more than five persons, taking out processions and carrying of firearms at public places. He has also instructed owners of the houses to furnish information about their tenants to the nearest police station.

KILLED: Jasbir Singh, a railway employee, and a resident of Rama Mandi, Jalandhar, was killed and his father, Ajit Singh, was seriously injured when their scooter was hit by a car near Nangal Shahedan village on the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road here on Tuesday. Three occupants of the car also sustained injuries. A case has been registered.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Tubewell Corporation Workers Union: president—Mr Jaswant Singh; senior vice-president—Mr Ram Pal; vice-president—Mr Charan Dass; secretary—Mr Brij Bihar Lal; joint secretary—Mr Sukhwinder Singh; press secretary—Mr Lal Singh; and adviser—Mr Swaran Singh.

BODY FOUND: The body of Gurmit Kaur, wife of Joginder Singh of Sherpur Glind, was found floating in the village well on Tuesday evening. According to police sources, she had been missing since yesterday morning. The police has sent the body to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Nawanshahr
DOG SHOW: The local German Shepherd Dog Club organised a dog show at the ITI Ground here on Monday. Dog-lovers from various districts and Chandigarh brought their pets to the show. The pets of Ajmer Singh (Ludhiana) and Adarsh Chhibber (Kotkapura) were declared the best. Mr Harjit Inder Singh Grewal, Deputy Commissioner, gave away the prizes.

BOOK RELEASED: Mr Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, general secretary, SGPC, released 'Naam Japna ate Guru Sewa' authored by local Sikh scholar Kuldip Singh at a function at Gurdwara Charan Kanwal, Banga, 12 km from here, on Monday.

Pathankot
POLICE CUSTODY: The Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate, Mr R.K. Garg, here on Tuesday remanded Rakesh Kumar, alias Fauji, in to police custody till Friday for possessing 140 gm of smack.

Patiala
BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp was organised at Government College of Education by the local unit of the NSS here on Tuesday. Mr I.P.S. Sahota, DIG, inaugurated the camp. A poster-making competition was organised to motivate donors. A team of doctors led by Dr Simrat Kaur and Dr Joginder Singh Rana supervised the camp.

SEMINAR: A seminar on Banda Singh Bahadur on the canvas of history will be organised by the Department of Punjab Historical Studies on the Punjabi University campus on April 12. Prof Kirpal Singh will inaugurate the day-long seminar while a noted historian, Prof Dilbagh Singh of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, will deliver the keynote address. OC HOMOEOPATHY: The Association of Scientific Research in Homoeopathy in collaboration with the Central Research Institute (Ayurveda), Patiala, organised a day-long seminar on Stress management with ayurveda and diabetes mellitus at the conference hall of Ayurvedic College here on Wednesday. Dr Avtar Singh, president of the association, explained the basic concepts of homoeopathy in daily life and also dwelt on the cure of stress management through ayurveda.

KHALRA CASE: The prosecution lawyer in the case pertaining to the alleged disappearance of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on Wednesday claimed in the court of Additional District Sessions Judge, Mr S.P. Bangarh, that 33 witnesses in the case had been threatened by the police. The next date of hearing has been fixed for April 11.

Phagwara
FAKE CURRENCY SEIZED: Fake currency worth Rs 72,000 was recovered from Hari of Prempur and Balwinder Singh of Gurha village here on Tuesday. The police seized a computer, scanner and printer. Both were arrested under various Sections of the IPC.

HARYANA

Kalka
FUNCTIONS HELD: The main branch of State Bank of Patiala here has conducted over a dozen functions in collaboration with educational institutions, Bharat Vikas Parishad and various other social organisations during 2004-2005. Mr S.C. Dhall, senior manager of the bank in a press release issued here on Wednesday said the bank was committed to help institutions which strive to promote the well-being of people in the areas of education, empowerment and health. 

Sonepat
SUSPENSION ORDER: Mr M. Ravi Kiran, SSP, Railways, Haryana, is reported to have ordered the suspension of Balraj Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector, following a complaint by a woman. She alleged that Balraj Singh had looted cash and other goods from her when she had arrived at Narwana railway station. According to a report, the woman had sent a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. On the intervention of the commission, the SSP had set up an inquiry committee which had found the allegations correct.

SHOT AT: Mr Hukam Chand (40), a resident of Sanpera village, was shot at Chandauli village situated on the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border, about 25 km from here, on Tuesday. He had gone to Chanduli village to collect Rs 40,000 from Mr Mange Ram. When he was returning, five men assaulted him with lathis and fired at him. Thereafter, they snatched the cash and fled. On hearing fire shot, people working in fields rushed to site. They took him to the Civil Hospital for treatment.

GUNNY BAGS LOOTED: A group of farmers looted gunny bags of a cooperative society from the foodgrains market at Kharkhauda town, about 19 km from here, on Tuesday. According to a report, officials of the society called on the police. It forced the farmers to return the looted gunny bags. Some of farmers had alleged that officials of procurement agencies were failed to buy sarson from them on the pretext of shortage of gunny bags. In the meantime, gunny bags arrived but they had no alternative to loot them as they were staying in the mandi for the past few days.

ARRESTED: The Government Railway Police here on Wednesday claimed to have arrested three persons on the charge of smuggling of charas. They were travelling in the New Delhi-bound Jhelum Express. During search, 1.3 kg of charas was recovered from their possession. The arrested were Nok Singh, Shiv Ram and Krishan, all residents of Dhansaur village in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
AIDS CASES: Himachal Pradesh has a total of 247 identified cases of AIDS and out of these 47 are in Bilaspur district. This was stated by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr S.C. Verma, here on Tuesday.

Mandi
MRI FACILITY: The IPH Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh, attended the installation of the first MRI machine at Banga Diagnostic Centre here. The minister said the MRI facility would benefit patients of the region. “Even the IGMC, Shimla, is setting up the MRI facility soon”, he added. No other town in the state had the facility, said Dr Jagdeep Banga.