R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amloh
Health awareness camp: A camp was organised by Dr Sharanjit Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Primary Health Centre, Bhadson, at Matorda village to create awareness about AIDS and other diseases. Mr Bhag Singh, Block Extension Education Officer, gave a talk on the prevention and cure of AIDS.

office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Adhyapak Dal of Amloh Block: president — Mr Chamkaur Singh; general secretary — Mr Avtar Singh; secretary — Mr Parminder Singh; senior vice-president — Mr Hartej Singh; vice-president — Mr Sadiq Mohamad; treasurer — Mr Ranjodh Singh; organising secretary — Mr Gurdarshan Singh; press secretary — Mr Ranjodh Singh; chief advisers — Mr Amrik Singh, Mr Atma Singh Barima, Mr Sher Singh Bhambrian; advisers — Ms Gurpreet Kaur and Ms Kamaljeet Kaur. Eleven members have been elected to the executive of the organisation.

AMRITSAR
Undertrial escapes: An undertrial, Sabi Maish, escaped on Tuesday from the local Guru Nanak Dev Hospital allegedly after dodging the police party. He was admitted to the hospital after being injured in a fight in the local jail. The police men on duty were reportedly suspended for the negligence.

Trustee dead: Office-bearers of the Hasham Shah Memorial Trust, including staff and students of Hasham Singh College for women and Hasham Shah Public School, on Tuesday mourned the death of Hardeep Singh Minta, a trustee. Mr H.S. Boparai, Principal of the college, lauded the efforts of Minta in organising cultural fairs. 

HOSHIARPUR
Ban order: Taking a serious note of the increasing noise pollution, the District Magistrate has imposed a ban on playing of sound systems, bursting of crackers, beating of drums and other sound-emitting equipment in the district. The order will be enforced between 10 pm and 6 am with immediate effect. It will remain in force till November 12.

Case registered: On the complaint of Baldev Singh of Kot village, the Hariana police here on Monday registered a case against Harmesh Lal of the same village. Mr Baldev Singh had, in his complaint, alleged that Harmesh Lal had abducted his 17-year-old daughter on September 4.

Farmers stage dharna: Farmers led by Mr Darshan Singh Matto, a CPM leader, on Tuesday staged dharna for about 2 hours in front of the office of the SDM at Garhshankar in support of their demands. Their main demands are, special girdawri in the Kandi area and compensation to farmers for damage to their crops due to drought-like situation, waving of loans of the small farmers and pesticides on reasonable rates.

JALANDHAR
Health centre: Resident of Central Town, railway road, Shastri Chowk and Bashipur areas have demanded that the Maternity and Child Health Centre, Central Town, being run by the Red Cross Society should not be closed in public interest. They said since the centre was of immense help to women and children of the area, any move to close it, would be opposed by the residents.

KAPURTHALA
Arrival of paddy: The district administration is expecting an increase of 27 lakh metric tonnes in paddy arrival in district mandis in the current kharif season against a total of 5.41 lakh metric tonnes received last year. Punsup, Markfed, Punjab Warehousing Corporation, Punjab Agro and FCI have been asked to make arrangements to procure the paddy. The arrival of paddy will begin on October 1 for which 40 purchase centres have been set up. Though the ‘A’ grade paddy will be procured at the rate of Rs 600 per quintal by the agencies and Rs 570 be paid for average quality paddy.

Khanna
Poetry recitation: A poetry recitation competition in Hindi, Punjabi and English was organised at A.S. College. Mr Sanjiv Dhamija was the chief guest while Dr R.S. Jhanji, principal, presided. Paramjit Singh stood first in Hindi poetry, Reema second and Shailender third. In Punjabi, Sandip came first, Jasdev Singh second and Manpreet Kaur third. In English, Richa got the first prize and Gurvir and Bhuvnesh second and third prize, respectively.

NAWANSHAHR
Sainik welfare complex: Lt Col Jarnail Singh (retd.), president of the district unit of the Ex-Servicemen’s Cell (PPCC), said here on Tuesday that the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, had announced that a sainik welfare complex would be built at Nawanshahr. Besides, efforts were being made to bring Raja Hospital, a local private nursing home, on the military panel so that the ex-servicemen could avail benefits of the ECHS scheme launched by the Government of India.

Complaints redressed: The Deputy Commissioner redressed as many as 40 complaints received at the ‘Jan Sampark Divas’ organised at the Dilbagh Hall here on Tuesday. He directed the officials concerned to take immediate action to solve the problems of the complainants.

NRI adopts student: Mr Karnail Singh Kang, a Canada-based NRI, has adopted Amanpreet Kaur, a student of Class VII of Guru Nanak Public Senior Secondary School, Dhahan Kaleran. Mr Kang announced that he would bear all educational expenses throughout her academic career pursuit.

PATIALA
Hindi fortnight: Ms Aman of Patel Memorial College won the inter-college declamation contest held during the Hindi Fortnight celebrations which concluded at Government Mohindra College here on Wednesday. Devinder Kumar (BA-II) of Mohindra College stood first in the ‘Itihas Lekhan Pratiyogita’, Meenu of BA-I topped in ‘Ashudhi Shodhan’, Rajesh of BA-III was first in handwriting competititon while Sangeeta and Swaranjeet were the winners in the essay writing competition. 

CHANDIGARH

240 donate blood: A number of blood donation camps were organised in various parts of the city. At Government College, Sector 46, 160 students and teachers donated blood at a camp organised by the Lions Club Chandigarh Nightingale. Anu Chatrath, city Mayor, presided over the camp and awarded appreciation certificates to all participants. A similar camp was organised at the Gujar Bhawan by Gujar Samaj Kalyan Parishad to mark the third death anniversary of its president late Amrik Singh. More than 80 persons donated blood on the occasion. The camp was inaugurated by the local counselor Harpreet Kaur Babla, who also donated blood . 

Pact with Australian institute: The Institute of Hospital Engineering, (IHE) Australia, and the Institute of Hospital Engineering, India, Tuesday signed an MoU for professional support. The MoU was presented to the executive committee for approval by the IHE national president, Dr J.C. Mehta. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mehta highlighted the course structure of various courses like Masters in Medical Architecture, Hospital Engineering, Environmental Health Planning among others. It was also decided by the committee that a conference on the theme of sustainable/ green hospitals will be organised in Chandigarh in 2006. 

Blood donation camp today: The CPWD Junior Engineers’ Association, Chandigarh Branch would hold a blood donation camp on the occasion of Engineers’ Day at Kendriya Sadan, Sector-9A here on Thursday. The Engineers’ Day is celebrated every year to mark the birthday of Sir M. Visvesvarya, a Bharat Ratna. 

Additional charge: Mr V.P. Dhingra, SE (Electricity) has been given the additional charge of SE (Electrical), in the Chandigarh Administration, sources said. Mr Dhingra has taken charge from Mr A.K. Verma who has been repatriated to his parent cadre of Punjab.

CME on infectious diseases: The Department of Immunopathology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, will hold the 32nd annual conference of the Indian Immunology Society from November 24 to November 27. A CME on immunology of infectious diseases on November 24 will be addressed by eminent panel of scientists which include Prof GP Talwar, VK Vinayak, Santosh Kar, Dieter Kabelitz, Ajit Sodhi, K Natrajan and V Ravi. The conference will have three keynote speakers, including Professor MG Deo, Dr Kannuri Rao and Professor Zinkernagel (Nobel Laureate) besides other scientists. The dates for the registration and abstract submission have been extended to accommodate more participation. For registration details the participants may contact Dr Sunil K Arora, organising secretary at skarora_in@yahoo.com and immcon05@yahoo.com. 

Flag Day by blind: The Chandigarh Branch of National Association for the Blind (NAB) on Wednesday observed its first Flag Day. The Haryana Governor, AR Kidwai, Chandigarh president Vinod Chadha and other office-bearers pinned the first flag and inaugurated the week long event. Mr Chadha informed that NAB India, through sponsors Reliance Group, has offered to meet the cost of all cornea transplant surgeries being performed at PGI and GMCH, Sector 32. He added that nearly 350 operations at a total cost of Rs 15 lakh were proposed to be funded this year.

Hindi Divas: Hindi Divas was celebrated in Guru Gobind Singh College for Women (GGSCW), Sector 26 in the college multipurpose hall. On this occasion a contest was held in which students presented a few skits. They emphasised on the importance of Hindi. 

MOHALI
AIDS awareness camp held: Members of the Family Planning Association of India here organised an AIDS awareness and check-up camp at Lal Bahadur Shastri Colony, Palsora, in collaboration with the State AIDS Control Society, Chandigarh. More than 450 residents of the colony participated in the camp. Doctors from the PGI took blood samples from over 170 residents to check for the virus. A magic show and cultural programme were also organised for the residents.

Ozone Day observed: Students of Swami Ram Tirath Public High School here celebrated Hindi Divas and Ozone Day here on Wednesday. A declamation contest and poster-making contest was organised to mark the occasion. Students expressed concern over the issues with their creative ideas. 

Body found: The body of an unidentified person was recovered by the police from near a tubewell in Sector 57 here. According to the police, the body appeared to be of a migrant labourer who was about 35 years old. The body has been sent to the local Civil Hospital Investigations in this regard were on.

Freshers’ party: The National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) here organised a freshers’ party, “Rumba Fever,” at a hotel here on Tuesday. The party was a mix of dance, modeling, games and a festive treat. The students were given the theme of dots and lines to experiment with for their dresses. Other than Mr and Ms Fresher, ‘NIFD most talented’ was also chosen at the party. 

HARYANA

AMBALA
DAV students excel: Two students of DAV College (Lahore) have secured joint seventh position in M Com-I examination in Kurukshetra University. College Principal J.S. Nain said Priyanka Kapoor and Gaganpreet Kaur have both secured the seventh position in the university.

DAV students excel: Two students of DAV College (Lahore) have secured joint seventh position in M Com-I examination in Kurukshetra University. College Principal J.S. Nain said Priyanka Kapoor and Gaganpreet Kaur have both secured the seventh position in the university. 

SONEPAT
Truck union: The president of the Sonepat Truck Operations Union, Mr Satinder Nandlal, resigned from his post on Wednesday. According to a report, Mr Nandlal tendered his resignation after receiving threats from anti-social elements. Mr Jagminder has been nominated as the president of the union in place of Mr Nandlal.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Inquiry ordered: The Superintendent of Police, (SP) Mr M. Chandershekhar, has ordered an inquiry into alleged beating up of a polio-victim, Ameen Mohammad of the Diara sector. The youth, who drives an autorickshaw, was allegedly beaten up by three policemen, including the driver of the Superintendent of Police, and a ‘munshi’ of city police station. A delegation of residents had met the SP and lodged a complaint.

State-level convention: A two-day state-level convention of the Himachal Parivahan Mazdoor Sangh, affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), will be held at Palampur from September 24. This was stated by the district president of the BMS, Mr Shankar Singh Thakur, on Tuesday. Mr Vamanrao Khedkhar, president, National Parivahan Mazdoor Sangh, will inaugurate the convention.

SHIMLA
Cooperative movement: The newly constituted state cooperative council will recommend to the government to include a chapter on the cooperative movement in the school syllabi to help strengthen the cooperative movement in the state. This was stated by Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Industries Minister, while presiding over the meeting of the council here on Tuesday. It was also decided that up to 5 MW micro hydel project should be given to cooperative societies to provide employment opportunities to the youth. 

SOLAN
Freight charges reduced: The transport union has decided to slash its existing freight charges by 2.5 to 6 per cent for 23 stations falling within a radius of 23 km. The transport union in a meeting with the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association on Saturday reached an agreement to increase the freight charges for the other routes by 60 paise per km.

Hike in fares sought: Local private bus operators have demanded an immediate hike in bus fares after the recent rise in diesel prices. A meeting, convened under the chairmanship of Mr Ashok Sood, on Monday resolved to meet the Chief Minister in this context.