R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Batala
Flesh trade: The police has arrested four persons—Paramjit Kaur of Udhanwal, Gurprit Kaur of Bhullar, Pal Singh of Jalandhar and Harjinder Singh of Sukhowal—from the house of Paramjit Kaur in a raid. A case under the prevention of immoral traffic in women Act has been registered.

Function held: A function was organised by the Mahajan Sabha on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Lala Hans Raj Mahajan at Pargal Hall here on Sunday.

Jalandhar
Cut in VAT sought: A deputation of hoteliers met Special Secretary, Tourism, Mr Jagjit Puri, and demanded a reduction of VAT and an early release of Central subsidy due since 1996.

CPM meeting: The Secretariat of the state's CPM, in a meeting held here on Sunday, condemned the Central government for voting against Iran's nuclear programme in the IAEA meet recently. The secretariat hailed the nationwide strike on Thursday.

Kapurthala
Arrears paid: The district administration paid arrears from July to September to 125 beneficiaries on Gandhi Jayanti.

Ludhiana
Piles camp: A three-day free piles check-up and screening camp would be organised at Sidhu Hospital, Doraha, from October 6 to 8. Patients diagnosed during the camp would be later surgically treated with advanced “American Stapler” technique, said Dr Gurdip Singh Sidhu, director and chief of surgery at the hospital, while addressing a press conference here on Monday. He said latest technological advances had helped bring surgical treatment with minimal pain and faster recovery of patients. Stapler was a minimal invasive technique and avoided open wounds after the procedure, he added. He said the advanced technique — minimally invasive procedure for hemorrhoids (MIPH) — involved minimum post-operative pain as compared to traditional surgery, which was quite painful. The technique offered comfort, minimal pain and rapid return to normal activity to the patients. 

Blood donation camp: Thirty units of blood were collected at a voluntary blood donation camp organised by Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in association with the District Red Cross Society at Khanna to mark the National Blood Donation Day on Monday. A declamation contest and a poster-cum-slogan competition were also held at the DMCH. Students of the MBBS and nursing participated in the competition. The following were adjudged winners (first and second, respectively): slogan competition — Harleen Kaur Chela and Seema; poster competition — Prabhjot and Isha Arora; and declamation — Suhashini and Bhavya. Dr Daljit Singh, Principal, DMCH gave away prizes to the winners. 

Samana
Old-age home: An old age home in Samana town has been named after social reformer, Sadhu Ram. This was announced by the spokesperson of the old age home on the occasion of his bhog ceremony here on Sunday.

CHANDIGARH

Zirakpur
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Shivalik Vihar Residents Welfare Association: chairman — Mr Harjap Singh; president — Mr Amar Singh; vice-president — Mr Shayam Lal; general secretary — Mr Suraj Kumar; joint secretary — Dr SK Sharma; treasurer — Mr Rajinder Sharma; legal adviser — Mr Randeep Singh; and press secretary — Mr Deepankar Bhattacharjee. 

HARYANA

Bhiwani
Man dead: Pramod, a resident of Niloi village, died after consuming some poisonous substance on Saturday. The body was handed over to relatives after the post mortem examination.

Pump stolen: A pump set was stolen from the Daryapur pump house here on Sunday. A case has been registered.

Retires: Dharmpal Mutreja, an assistant technical officer with the District Public Relations Office, Bhiwani, retired after putting in 26 years of service.

Sonepat
One arrested: The police has arrested Rakesh of Chirashmi village for murdering Bijender on Friday. It is alleged that the incident occurred following an accidental firing of a pistol.

Woman beaten up: Nirmala, a resident of Sehoti village, was beaten up by three unidentified persons on Sunday. The victim has been hospitalised.

Fake currency: The police arrested Dharambir of Harsana Kalan village on Saturday for possessing fake currency notes. He was trying to deposit these notes in the SBI branch in the mandi area.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Bilaspur
Gandhi Jayanti: Leaders of the Congress party in the district gathered at the district headquarters and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on Sunday. They thanked the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, for allocating funds for the senior secondary school building at Kothipura. Gandhi Jayanti was also celebrated in Chandpur village and Tikkar Jeeripattan village.

Bereaved: The two-year-old son of a journalist, Mr Chaman Janjuha, died after drowning in a tub at his residence in Ghumarwin on Saturday.

CHAMBA
Yajna: Dayananda Math will conduct a 196 hour long “yajna” from October 4 to 12.

Quota sought: A deputation of the HP Gaddi Union met the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and urged him to reserve seats for the gaddi community in the forthcoming panchayati raj and civic bodies’ elections on the ratio of its population in the non-tribal areas of the state.

Dharamsala
Red Cross mela: A Red Cross mela organised by the district Red Cross Society and the district administration was inaugurated by Ms Pratibha Singh, vice-president of the State Red Cross Society, here on Sunday.

Exhibition: An exhibition of paintings, drawings, paper-cutting and paper sculptures by Mr Prabal Pramanik, organised in collaboration with the Department of Language and Culture, was inaugurated here on Sunday. Mr Pramanik gave a presentation of paper cutting art.

KUMARHATTI
One held: The police on Thursday arrested Raj Kumar, a resident of Dharampur, who is accused of non-payment of loans to local traders amounting to over Rs 3 lakh.

KANGRA
NSS camp: A ten-day NSS camp organized by Unit III of the MCM DAV College in Jogipur village concluded on Saturday. 29 boys and 12 girls participated in the camp.