Tribuneindia...Regional Briefs

	REGIONAL BRIEFS	Wednesday, April 28, 1999
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AMRITSAR
Teachers' union: The election to the district council of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union was held here on Monday. Prof Gurnam Singh Kahlon of Khalsa College was elected President while Prof H.S. Walia of DAV College was elected Secretary.

HOSHIARPUR
Discourse: To attain peace one should follow teachings of the Gita. These views were expressed by Sakashi Gopal, Chairman of ISKCON, Kurukshetra, when he was addressing a congregation at Varindavan Dham, Gaushala Complex here on Sunday. He recited sankirtan for more than two hours.
'Zafarnama': Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, released video and audio cassettes of the Raj Mahal production film, "Zafarnama", at a function at Chabewal village, 12 km from here, on Monday. Mr Salinder Singh Salindra, Managing Director of the production who is an NRI told mediapersons here on Monday that "Zafarnama" had already been released in Fizi, Australia and New Zealand.

JALANDHAR
Appointed: Mr Gagan Sharma, President of the All-India Anti Corruption and Crime Prevention Society, has been appointed Secretary of the Beopar Cell, Punjab Youth Congress, by Mr Davinder Singh Babbu, President Punjab Youth Congress.
Medical camp: A medical camp was organised by the Bhagat Officers Welfare Association at Bhargo Nagar here on Monday. More than 1200 patients were examined and given free medicines. Mr Manoranjan Kalia, Health Minister, was the chief guest and Mr Bhagat Chuni Lal, MLA, presided over the camp.
Family welfare plan: The district has stood second in the Family welfare programme. The birth rate is 21.67 per thousand and infant mortality rate is 27.4 per thousand in the district. The Deputy Commissioner, the Civil Surgeon, the District Family Welfare Officer, para medical staff and NGO's were given award at a function held at Chandigarh recently, according to the Civil Surgeon, Dr C.P. Bansal.

LUDHIANA
Girl injured: Rittika, a class VI student of Tagore Public School, was seriously injured when a fan in her classroom fell on her. She was admitted to a hospital. Her condition is stated to be serious.
Nominated: Prof D.R.C. Bakhetia, a senior scientist and former head of the Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University has been nominated as an expert member of the working group on IPM under the World Bank-funded national agricultural technology project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.

MOGA
Phone exchange: The Telecommunication Department has approved a scheme to upgrade the telephone exchanges in almost all villages in Moga and Faridkot districts. The scheme will cover Ghalkalan, Kalialawala, Darolibhai, Smalsar, Samdhbhai Daka, Choigawan and Ajitwal villages in Moga district.

NAWANSHAHR
Protest rally: The district unit of the Medical Practitioners' Association, Punjab, organised a rally in front of the Primary Health Centre, Mukandur, about 20 km from here on Sunday to protest against the alleged harassment by health and police officials who have allegedly implicated some medical practitioners in false cases.

PATIALA
Welfare society: The following have been elected office-bearers of the elders welfare society here: President — Mr Kishori Lal Sharma, Vice President — Capt B.R. Soen, General Secretary — Mr R.K. Kataria, Secretary — Mr Roshan Lal Singla and Treasurer — Mr Jagdish Rai Alipuria.
Sudhar Sabha: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Vikas Colony Sudhar Sabha here: President — Mr K.K. Sharma, Vice-President — Mr Gurdish Kumar, General Secretary — Mr Sukhdarshan Singh and Treasurer — Mr K.B. Verma.
Condoled: The state unit of the Indian Medical Association, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the Punjab Nagarpalika Karamchari Maha Sangh have condoled the sudden demise of Mrs Saroj Sirhindi, press correspondent of the Punjabi and Dainik Tribune.

PHILLAUR
Plea to President: Punjab Hindu Shiv Sena President Surinder Dogra and Secretary Pawan Parbhakar has urged the government to form only four zones in the country instead of a number of states. They said here on Monday that this would help to maintain political stability, economic growth and law and order in the country.

ROPAR
Foundation stone: Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Food and Civil Supply Minister, Punjab, laid the foundation stone of a district bar room and a library, to be built at a cost of Rs 25 lakh in the District Judicial Complex here on Monday. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr K.S. Sidhu, announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh from the small savings funds for the construction of the bar room.

Mianwali association: The local Mianwali District Association will organise the annual ‘mela’ on May 2 at the Sector 35 Dharamshala of Sri Ram Temple. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, Mr Gopi Chand, the President of the association, said that during the ‘mela’, an exhibition of antique items such as old utensils, clothes, and jewellery of Mianwali District, now in Pakistan, will be held.
Lions Club: Lions Club Chandigarh Nightingale has won the ‘award of excellence’ in recognition of its services to society. In a press note issued here on Tuesday, Mrs Paramjit Puri, the President of the club, said that in addition to this, she was declared the second best president of the district. The club also got the award for collecting the maximum blood units in the district.
Animal husbandry: The following have been elected office-bearers of the UT Animal Husbandry Employees Welfare Association: President — Mr K.K. Khanna; Vice-President — M.S. Suman Arora, General Secretary — Mr Ravi Dutt Agnihotri; and Chief Adviser — Mr O.P. Bharadwaj.
Condemned: The Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee on Tuesday condemned the proposal of the Chandigarh Administration to levy 5 per cent sales tax on petrol. Mr Sunil Parti, General Secretary and Spokesman of the CTCC, said that any increase in the price of petrol would affect the average lower middle class man who was already overburdened with rising prices.
Criticised: The local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and its two district units on Tuesday assailed the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress Committee for taking out “shavyatra” in retaliation against the “Vishvasghat Divas” procession organised by the BJYM activists last week. The BJYM said that the “shavyatra” taken out by Congressmen was the “shavyatra” of intentions and aspirations of the Congress and its President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, which remained unfulfilled.

PANCHKULA
Ram Katha: Shri Ram Nam Sumrin Satsang Mandal will organise Shri Ram Katha from April 28 to May 2 at Shiv Prachin Mandir, Sector 8, Panchkula. This was announced here on Tuesday.

AMBALA
Meeting held: A meeting of like-minded leaders of Haryana was held here on Monday at the residence of the convener of the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti, Mr Om Parkash Malik, on the issue of the SYL canal water. They expressed concern over the non-availability of the state's water share. Mr Malik said that an appeal was made to the MPs and MLAs of the state that they should quit in case they failed to exert pressure on the government to get state's share in the canal water. A delegation of leaders of the samiti would also meet the Prime Minister and President.

FARIDABAD
Suicide: A 26-year-old woman, Shakuntla, committed suicide on Sunday in Mahavir Colony at Ballabgarh.

KALKA
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Muslim Welfare Committee here: President — Mr M.A. Faruqui; Vice-President — Mr Abdul Wasir Ansari; Secretary — Mr Mohammad Sarvar Faruqui; Propaganda Secretary — Mr Khursheed Ahmed and Treasurer — Mr Mohammad Asharaf.

KAITHAL
Profit earned: The Kaithal depot of Haryana Roadways has earned a record income of Rs 15.13 crore during 1998-99 which is more than Rs 1.71 crore as compared to 1997-98. The Deputy Commissioner said during March the depot earned a profit of Rs 21.36 lakh.

NARNAUL
Blood donated: To mark Khalsa birth tercentenary, the District Red Cross Society and the Bharat Vikas Parishad jointly organised a blood donation camp at Guru Gobind Singh High School, here on Monday. Mr K.C. Sharma, Deputy Chairman Haryana Planning Commission, was the chief guest and Mr S.S. Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the function.
Saini Sabha: Mr Prem Bhagat, Acting Chairman of the local Nagar Parishad was elected president of the Saini Sabha on Monday. He defeated his nearest rival Subedar Purshotam Saini (former president), of the sabha by a margin of 597 votes.
Water scarcity: There is an acute scarcity of potable water in and around Mahendragarh district. At few places water just trickles out of taps. Local political leaders have demanded immediate improvement in the water supply.

REWARI
Wife missing: Mrs Rajkumari (28), wife of Raj has been missing from Dharuhera since April 20. It is alleged that Jaipal, son of Kalurma of Dharuhera enticed her away on April 20 when her husband was away on duty in a factory. Her younger son, aged about one-and a-half year is also with her while the elder son aged about 6 years, was abandoned at some spot near Dharuhera.
Resigned: Mr Vijay Somani, State Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha of the BJP, has resigned from the post complaining that the morcha had been sluggish in its activities for the past one year.

SIRSA
Found dead: Santosh Rani wife of Lal Chand of Kirti Nagar here, was found dead while her husband has absconded. Mr Khushi Ram, the landlord of their house reported the incident to the police on Monday. He found that her body was lying on a cot for past two days and the aged mother of Lal Chand and his three children were weeping.
Husband held: Paramjit of Nohria Bazar was arrested on Monday for allegedly forcing his wife, Trilochan, to commit suicide. Earlier Trilochan's death was dismissed as a case of simple suicide but on a complaint to the Human Rights Commission by her parents the police registered a case under Sections 306 and 34 and arrested him.

SONEPAT
MC campaign: The local municipal council has launched a campaign for removing encroachments from footpaths in the city. Mr Y.S. Gupta, Secretary of the council told mediapersons here on Sunday that the council will erect iron grills on the road divider leading from Gita Bhavan Chowk in the city to Shaheed Chowk.

BILASPUR
Scheme for scribes: The Himachal Pradesh State Journalists Federation will launch a group insurance scheme for all state journalists from May 30 when a state-level journalists' conference would be held at Sundernagar. This was decided by the federation at a meeting held here on Sunday.

NURPUR
Pradhan held: The police arrested Harbanslal, pradhan of the Jonta Gram Panchayat, on Monday for allegedly attacking and injuring Shakti Parkash on Saturday.

SHIMLA
Kisan Sabha: The state Kisan Sabha has urged the government to conduct a special "girdawari" to assess the damage caused by drought to crops. The sabha demanded immediate relief for affected farmers. It also urged the government to waive loans given to farmers through cooperative societies and provide interest-free loans to them so that they could procure seeds and other inputs for sowing the next crop.