R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Amritsar
Zonal youth festival: The zonal youth festival of government colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University will be held from October 19 at Sarup Rani Government College for Women here. Mr M.P. Singh, IAS, Secretary, Higher Education, Punjab will inaugurate the festival while Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Cabinet Minister, Punjab will be the chief guest at the prize distribution function.

Virasat Mela: ‘Virasat Mela heritage festival will be held from November 23 to 27. Informing this, Mr Kirandeep Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner, on Friday, released the schedule of the heritage festival. He said the previous two heritage festivals had proved milestones in the history of the holy city of Amritsar. 

Rs 55.96 cr to be spent: The Municipal Corporation will utilise Rs 55.96 crore on construction of road, augmentation of water supply and sewerage in walled city, maintenance of historical gardens and facelift of city. This was stated by Mr K.S. Kang, Municipal Commissioner, here on Saturday.

BATALA
Elected: The Jan Kalyan Sabha was formed on Friday. The following were elected office-bearers of the sabha: chairman—Mr A.C. Preet; president—Mr Sukhdev Singh Randhwa; vice-president—Mr Satpal Singh; general secretary—Mr Subhash Sharma; joint secretary—Mr Gurvinder Singh; treasurer—Mr Dharam Pal Bhardwaj; press secretary—Mr Kishan Lal Mahajan; and store in charge—Mr Roshan Singh.

Hoshiarpur
Murder condemned: A joint meeting of judicial officers and members of the District Bar Association on Friday condemned the murder of Mr Vijay Singh, Additional Judge of Labour Court, Chandigarh. Mr R.P. Dhir, president, District Bar Association, said the members of the association also suspended work in the courts. 

NAWANSHAHR
Gang busted: The Banga police has busted a gang of car thieves by arresting two persons – Rachhpal Singh of Chad Kaler village and Malkeet Singh of Beerh Pipli. It recovered a Maruti car (HR 24 F 5853) from them. A case has been registered.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Old Students’ Association of the local BLM Girls College: president—Ms Ravinder Badal;
vice- president – Ms Sudha Jain; secretary – Ms Harinder Brar; joint secretary – Ms Jatinder Kaur; and cashier – Ms Mamta Maini.

PATHANKOT
Inaugurated: Mr Amarjit Pal, SDM, inaugurated HDFC standard life insurance branch here on Saturday. Mr Namit Rai, branch manager (retail sales) said the company had 100 branch offices across the country and providing its services over 440 towns.

Camp organised: More than 1,700 learning driving licence were prepared and handed over to the applicants on the spot by the District Transport Officer at a suvidha camp organised by the district administration at Sujanpur on Friday. Mr R.S. Puri, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Punjab, inaugurated the camp. During the camp more than 650 ration cards were also prepared.

Phagwara
Dalit writer bereaved: The Giani Banta Ram, father of Dalit writer and convener, Bahujan Azadi Andolan, Punjab, advocate SL Virdi, died here on Friday. He was cremated at his native village Virk in the afternoon.

Sewerage plan: Local Congress MLA-cum-Chairman, Punjab Agro and Foods Corporation, Joginder Singh Mann had succeeded in getting Rs 8.5 crore for drainage and sewerage plan for the slums of Phagwara. Perturbed over the outbreak of gastroenteritis and two deaths of migrant children due to the suspected disease in Onkar Nagar had raised the issue of drainage and sewerage in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. 

PHILLAUR
Principal hurt: Mr Y.P. Kaushal, Principal, St Soldier College, Garhshankar, was allegedly attacked by armed assailants near Nangal village on Friday. Mr Kaushal was returning home when the assailants ransacked his car and attacked him. The police has registered a case.

Ropar
Stir threat: A coordination committee of the National Fertilizers Employees’ Union on Friday decided to observe a two-day strike on November 14 against the non acceptance demands. The coordination committee has also decided to observe a indefinite strike from November 21 if their demands were not accepted by the NFL authorities.

HARYANA

Jhajjar
Patwari suspended: The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Suprabha Dahiya, has placed a patwari under suspension who was found drunk on duty on Thursday. The SDM, Bahadurgarh, Capt Manoj Kumar, had caught patwari Rajbir in an inebriated condition in his office. 

Karnal
Tagore’s short stories: Well-known Zurich based writer Franz Hohler is very much impressed by the short stories written by Nobel Prize winner Rabindra Nath Tagore. This was stated by Franz while interacting with students of Dyal Singh Public School here on Friday. Answering to a question, Franz said he had read Tagore’s several short stories which impressed him.

Foundation stone: The former Punjab Chief Minister and SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, will lay the foundation stone of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee school in Kaithal on October 20. He will also address workers meeting there on the same day. 

Rewari
Doctor felicitated: Dr S.N. Saxena, a noted ophthalmologist of the Rewari region, was felicitated at a function organised to mark his 75th birthday on Friday. Complimenting Dr Saxena on his outstanding work done in the domains of ophthalmology the Deputy Commissioner Mr Mahender Kumar, who was the chief guest of the function, also wished him a long and healthy life. 

Rohtak
French course: Maharshi Dayanand University is introducing a certificate course in French from the current academic session. The university has issued an admission notification for the course. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr R.S. Dhankar, said on Friday that the course was being introduced in view of the growing demand for foreign-language specialists in the corporate sector. Candidates well versed in foreign languages had more chances of employment in multinational companies, he added. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Shimla
Ensure voting right, says BJP: The BJP on Friday demanded that voting rights of over 51,000 voters in the vicinity of the town must be restored before the panchayat elections. In a representation to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sushil Negi, the convener of the BJP election cell, Mr Hira Nand Kashyap, requested that electoral rolls of Dhalli, New Shimla and Tutu area must be prepared. 

Book released: The Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, on Friday released a book “Ghost stories of Shimla Hills” written by Minakshi Chaudhary. The book published by Rupa has stories about British ghosts along with tales about native spirits. 

Solan
Booked: A bus conductor employed with the HRTC has been accused of outraging the modesty of a woman passenger on Thursday while she was travelling in the Kasauli-bound bus. The women hailing from Khajret village in Kasauli tehsil in a written complaint to the Kasauli police has alleged that the conductor who was in an inebriated condition attempted to outrage her modesty. A case has been registered.

Mobile phones for tribal area: Extending the facility of mobile cells in the tribal area the BSNL has now tapped the district of Lahaul Spiti with Udaipur, Ghosal and Sissu becoming the first areas to get the facility. The GM mobile, Mr Naresh Sharma, said bookings for the mobile connection had been made available at Udaipur exchange.