R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
ELECTED: Following have been elected office-bearers of the Income Tax Bar Association: president — Mr Rajesh Mehra; vice-president — Mr Gurmeet Singh Chawla; secretary — Mr Sham Sundar Sodhi; and joint secretary — Mr Kewal Kumar.

RALLY: The Socio-Economic Development Programme in the Diocese of Amritsar on Tuesday organised a motorcycle rally. As many as 25 youths led by Rt Rev P.K. Samantaroy, Bishop of Amritsar, left for Kulu from here. Mr O.P. Soni, MLA, flagged off the rally.

Hoshiarpur
DEMANDED: In letters to the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister, the Governor and the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mahant Swami Varindranath Giri, president Rajasthan Sadhu Samaj Jaipur, has demanded the construction of a pucca road from Bal Tal to Amarnath and maximum facilities for pilgrims.

DHARNA: Residents of the bet area led by Mr Ajaib Singh, president, and Mr Satish Kumar, general secretary of the Bet Bhalai Committee, Garhshankar, staged a day-long dharna and blocked vehicular traffic on the Garhshankar-Nangal road on Tuesday in protest against the state government for not making permanent arrangements for the regular supply of drinking water in the area.

Kapurthala
CRITICISED: The Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) on Tuesday criticised the SGPC for its decision to build a memorial for those who were killed in Operation Bluestar. Condemning the decision, Punjab unit’s spokesman of the Sena Mr Jagdish Kataria, said the decision of the SGPC had hurt the families of victims of terrorism. Mr Kataria demanded that instead the government should build a memorial for security personnel who died fighting terrorism in Punjab.

Phagwara
CONTAMINATED WATER: Residents of the Baba Gaddia area in Ward No 1 have been forced to bathe and cook their meal with stinking and contaminated water for the past few days. The irked residents have taken up the matter with senior officers of the Nagar Council. They have demanded proper water pressure for double and triple-storey houses. It was also demanded preventive measures to ensure the proper water supply during the summer.

PATWARIS’ DHARNA: Patwaris staged a dharna and held a rally here on Wednesday in protest against privatisation and collection of Rs150 per registery as computer fee. Addressing the protesters, Mr Narinder Singh, state joint secretary, and Mr Surinder Pal, Phagwara tehsil president, Punjab Patwar Union, demanded a probe into collection of lakhs of rupees under the cover of land record society.

IT EXEMPTION: Donations to the Rotary Club Charitable Trust of the Rotary Club Phagwara Central for running the Rotary Charitable Dispensary, have been given IT exemption under Section 80-G. The Rotary Club, in association with the Phagwara branch of the Indian Medical Association, runs a charitable dispensary at Birk village, according to club president Sudesh Sharma here on Wednesday.

GATE RALLY: PSEB employees on Wednesday held a gate rally outside the Model Town office of the PSEB and made a bonfire of an anti-employee circular of the department. Addressing the rally, Mr Tarsem Lohia, president, Technical Service Union, Jalandhar Circle, alleged that the arbitrary circular was about service break of certain employees. Copies of the circular were burnt by protesters who demanded its immediate withdrawal.

Sangrur
DISTRIBUTED: Mr Husan Lal, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, on Tuesday distributed sewing machines free of cost among 225 Scheduled Caste girls, who had completed their one-year training at the welfare centres of the Welfare Department in the district. The machines were distributed after a free medical check up camp, organised by the administration with the help of Dr Ambedkar Welfare Naujwan Society at the Ambedkar Bhavan here.

HARYANA

Jhajjar
ARRESTED: The Jhajjar police on Thursday arrested Jaila a criminal after a brief exchange of firing at Chimni village. The SP, Mr Haneef Quraishi, said Jaila, was involved in about six criminal cases which included murder, attempt to murder, robbery, looting etc in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts.

Panipat
SUICIDE: Ashok Kumar of Kayasthan Mohalla ended his life by consuming some poisonous substance here on Tuesday. He reportedly committed suicide due to some domestic problem. His body was sent to Bhim Sen Sachar Civil Hospital for postmortem.

Rewari
DRIVER KILLED: A truck driver, Ashok Kumar, son of Jai Ram of Alwar district in Rajasthan, died on the spot, while his brother-in-law, Vijay Singh, was injured when their truck overturned and fell into a pit on the Bawal-Rewari road, near Jaliawas village, about 10 km from here, on Monday. the truck was coming from Jaipur to Rewari.

PROTEST: Agitated workers of Autofit Pvt. Ltd., Malpura, held a procession here on Tuesday in protest against their alleged exploitation and repression by the management in connivance with the labour contractor. Later they submitted to the SDM a memorandum, which was addressed to the Chief Minister of Haryana, seeking regularisation of their services, enforcement of labour laws and issuance of pay slips, provident fund slips and ESI cards.

DISTRIBUTED: Mrs Shashi Kalia, chairperson of the District Hospital Welfare Society, distributed five sewing machines among widows, from tricycles and wheel chairs among disabled persons, three hearing aids among partially deaf persons and 11 artificial limbs among disabled persons at a function held in Red Cross Bhavan here on Tuesday. Besides, 90 poor men and women were given rice bags of 40 kg each.

Sonepat
LAND VACATED: Officials of the anti-demolition squad of the Municipal Council got vacated the municipal land under illegal occupation of several influential persons on the Sonepat-Mehlana road here on Wednesday. The officials also destroyed the standing crops and removed a room constructed on the land.

SNAKE BITE: A labourer was killed by snake-biting while he was asleep in his jhuggi at Jagsi village, about 50 km from here, on Tuesday night. The deceased belonged to Saidpur village in Samastipur district of Bihar and had been employed by a contractor.

MOLESTATION CHARGE: The Mohana police on Wednesday registered a case of molestation against a youth, Anil, of Garhi Haldikat village on the complaint lodged by Mrs Nisha of the same village. The police has launched a hunt to apprehend the culprit.

TRACTOR STOLEN: Four persons reportedly took away a tractor from Mr Inder Singh of Thana Kalan village at Mehlana village, about 5 km from here, on Wednesday. Mr Inder Singh had come to the village to meet a friend. He sat on the tractor and started the tractor. Four persons pushed him away and fled with the tractor.

BOOKING OFFICE: A large number of passengers held a demonstration in front of the booking office of the railway station here on Tuesday night in protest against the closure of the booking office.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
TRAINING CAMP : The District Rural Development Agency in collaboration with “Atma” organised one-day training camp under the “Gold Mine Project” for farmers at Kandraur. Sixty village leaders, including those from Mahila Mandals, participated in the camp.

HAILED: The Himachal Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister, Mr Ramlal Thakur, has hailed the announcement of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, regarding the allocation of funds worth Rs 4,000 crore for various development projects and schemes in the state.

Dharamsala
MEETING: A review meeting of MPLADS schemes was held here on Monday. The meeting was convened by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of Central Government. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, asked the officers concerned to complete the ongoing programmes being executed under MPLADS schemes in the stipulated period.

Kulu
ELECTED : The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association: president — Mr Atul Bhagirath; senior vice-president — Mr Shamsher Singh Thakur; vice-president — Mr Krishar Lal Thakur; general secretary — Mr Rakesh Acharya; and treasurer — Mr Subhash Thakur.

Shimla
OFFICE-BEARERS : The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shimla Bar Association: president — Mr Bhupinder Singh; vice-president — Mr Virender Sharma; general secretary — Mr Niranjan Verma; and treasurer — Mr Sandeep Dutta.

Una
WORKSHOP: Prem Ashram, home for mentally challenged children, Una, with the help of Action for Autism and Open Door Delhi, organised a one-day workshop for the parents of mentally challenged children here. Merry Barua and Meena Joshi, special educators, interacted with parents who attended with workshop. Mr Dinesh Yadav, SP, gave away the prizes to the mentally challenged children who participated in Mini Olympic for mentally challenged children at Solan and won various medals for the institution.

ADDITIONAL CHARGE: Mrs Upma Chaudhary, Secretary (Urban Development), will also hold the additional charge of the post of Managing Director, State Financial Corporation. She is also holding the additional charge of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. Mrs Rashima Gupta, Member, (Administration), in the state power board has been given additional charge of Member (Finance), and Mr Ram Dass Dhiman, Registrar of Cooperative Societies, will hold the additional charge of Director, Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs.