R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

FARIDKOT
Case registered: The local police on Saturday arrested two suspected scooter-borne persons and recovered two Indian made pistols and a number of cartridges from them near the Talwandi road on the canal bridge. They were identified as Malkiat Singh of Jandawala village in Rajasthan and Sher Singh of Beri Kadran village under police station Zira in Moga District. A case under the Arms Act has been registered against them.

HOSHIARPUR
Training camp: The 10-day annual training camp of 12 Punjab Battalion, NCC, Hoshiarpur, concluded at the DAV College complex on Sunday. Col A.S. Jatana, Group Commander, NCC, Jalandhar, and Mr Kamal Chaudhary, former MP, were present at the concluding function. The main emphasis during the camp was on drill, field craft, firing, sanitation and character building.

JALALABAD
Welfare programme: 135 Battalion of the BSF, Jalalabad, will organise a three-day border population welfare programme from Thursday under the civilian action plan at Bahadur ke Check-post.

PHILLAUR
Minister’s assurance: Newly-appointed Punjab Cabinet Minister Baldev Chawla announced here on Sunday that he would campaign actively against corruption for all-round development of the state. Talking to newsmen he said the recovery of old taxes would be accelerated to overcome the present financial crisis in the state.

SAMRALA
Salaries not paid: Mr Gulzar Singh, a leader of the Class IV Union, Samrala, stated on Saturday that the Class IV employees had not been paid salaries for the past two months. He appealed to the government to pay the salaries within a week, failing which the union would be forced to stage a dharna.Sirsa

Fertilizers’ supply: The district administration has made arrangements to provide sufficient DAP and urea fertilisers to eliminate any chances of their shortage in the district. These fertilisers are being provided to the farmers at the rate of Rs 410 and Rs 190 per bag, respectively. Stating this here on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Amit Jha stated that Hafed had tied up with manufacturers of insecticides, pesticides and weedicides to ensure supply of these agro-chemicals at reasonable rates.

Panch arrested: A panch of Panniwala Mota village in the district was arrested on Tuesday under Sections 353/186, IPC. According to the information received on Sunday, panch Ramji Lal was arrested for obstructing official work on a complaint by the BDPO, Odhan.

CHANDIGARH

Function held:
Members of the Bharat Vikas Parishad (north) and their families on Sunday visited the Old Age Home, Sector 15, to celebrate the New Year. Sweets and fruits were distributed to all inmates and a brief cultural programme was also organised on the occasion. It was announced that the inmates would not be charged at the clinical diagnosis centre being run at the Indira Holiday Home, Sector 24, by the Parishad.

Meeting: The Sanjha Chetna Manch, Sector 32, on Sunday held a meeting in Sector 45 to wish everybody a Happy New Year and to celebrate the safe return of the hostages in the hijack drama. Meanwhile, the Manch expressed its resentment against the exchange of three terrorists for the passengers on board, and said that the government now needs to be more alert in future.

SAS NAGAR
Get-together: The Senior Citizen Housing and Welfare Association of Sector 48-C here organised a get- together to welcome the New Year. Later, a memorandum of demands was given to the Additional Chief Engineer of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), Mr G.R. Jakhu.

HARYANA

KAITHAL
House burgled: Thieves burgled the house of Judicial Magistrate Nirja Kulwant Kalsan here on the Thursday night and stole a colour TV, VCR and other household goods when the judge was out of station. The theft was noticed on Friday. The police has registered a case under Sections 457/380 of the IPC.

Power supply: Disruption of power supply affected normal life here on Saturday as taps remained dry and residents of the town remained without power till 10 a.m. Resentment also prevails among citizens over frequent undeclared power cuts imposed by the power authorities these days.

Backward classes: Members of the backward class here have protested against the non-inclusion of any member of the community in the screening committee recently constituted by the Congress for the selection of candidates for the forthcoming assembly elections in the state. In a memorandum to the AICC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Pyare Lal Verma, former HCS officer, and others urged the AICC chief to nominate three members of the community to the screening committee.

SIRSA
Arrested: The police arrested a criminal wanted for the past 16 years in a dacoity case. According to the information received on Saturday Jassa Singh was one of the seven persons booked under Sections 395/397/398, IPC in a dacoity case in Phaggu village in 1984. The remaining six accused had already been arrested. Jassa Singh has been remanded in police custody for three days.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Police cases: The Himachal State Computers Association has thanked Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for withdrawal of all police cases registered against leaders of the association. The association said the Chief Minister had also assured that services of these employees would be restored soon.

Torchlight procession: Led by Mr Pradeep Thakur, hundreds of youth took out a torchlight procession on the Friday night under the aegis of the Nodal Youth Club at Barmana, 18 km from here, and pledged to work for removal of social and economic evils.

Eye camp: Specialists from National Vision Handicapped Institute, Dehra Dun, will organise a free eye camp at the community health centre, Ghumarwin, 30 km from here, from January 20 to 23. This was stated by Chief Medical Officer M.L.Mahajan on Sunday.

Scribes’ plea: The Himachal Pradesh State Journalist Federation has condemned threats being given by some forest officials and "forest mafia" men to a Sirmour-based journalist for reporting regarding illegal felling of trees in the Renuka Lake area. The federation has appealed to the Chief Minister to order a probe into the entire episode.

JAWALAMUKHI
Indefinite fast: The indefinite fast by trade union leader Harish Guleri against the functioning of the Telecommunication Department entered its second day on Sunday at Ranital village near here. The Ranital telephone exchange has been out of order for the past two months. Villagers from nearby gram panchayats gathered there and raised slogans against the department.

KUMARHATTI
Society's demands: The local Senior Citizen Welfare Society at its meeting on Saturday demanded that Parwanoo should be upgraded to the subdivision level and 50 per cent concession should be given to aged in the state buses. The association also demanded that covered accommodation should be provided at the old age home.

PALAMPUR
Police drive: The local police has launched a special campaign to check anti-social activities in the region. Stating this to mediapersons here on the Sunday morning, Deputy Superintendent of Police Virender Kumar Sharma said the police conducted a raid at Patti, near here, and arrested four gamblers, including a woman. Three persons were arrested for illegally selling liquor in the Bharwarna and Panchrukhi areas. Ten bottles of liquor were also seized by the police. The police had also launched a campaign to check triple riding in the town.