R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
Theft: A theft was committed in the house of Kashmiri Lal, a wine contractor, in the Sundernagri locality on Tuesday. An unidentified person is reported to have scaled the wall of the house and entered a bedroom after removing an iron grill of the kitchen. The thief decamped with gold and silver ornaments and some cash.

Power supply: Power supply and telephone services in the town remained disrupted for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday. As many as 1,500 phones are reportedly lying dead since the beginning of the year. Poor quality of the cable used for the connections is said to be one of the reasons for the present crisis. No explanation was, however, available from the authorities concerned for the frequent power breakdowns.

BATHINDA
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Consumer Welfare Council: president — Mr P.L. Garg; vice-president — Mr S.C. Bansal; general secretary — Mr Kishan Singh; and treasurer — Mr Chiranji Lal.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Tax Bar Association: president — Mr Anil Gupta; vice-presidents — Mr Vijay Kumar Jindal and Mr Shiv Kumar Jindal; secretary — Mr Ashok Kumar Sharma; and joint secretary — Mr Parvesh Kumar Bansal.

KHANNA
Rice shellers: A meeting of the local Rice Shellers Association was held at the grain market here under the presidentship of Mr Gurdial Singh on Wednesday. Mr Ashwani Kumar, general secretary of the association, said the association had decided to join the strike on January 7 on a call given by the Punjab Rice Shellers Association to press for their demands, which included the withdrawal of the order to use bags of 50 kg instead of 95 kg and the arbitration cases of 1994 and 1995.

MALERKOTLA
School timings changed: The District Magistrate, Sangrur, Mr Anirudh Tiwari, has changed the school timings in Sangrur district because of thick fog. In a letter to the District Education Officer, Sangrur, he said all government and private schools would start at 10 a.m. and close at 3 p.m. These orders will be effective till January 20.

Social worker dead: A well-known social worker and former president of the local Rotary Club, Mr Kewal Krishan Sharma, died here after a prolonged illness. He was 67. He was associated with a number of social, religious and educational organisations in the town. His funeral was largely attended.

PHAGWARA
Car stolen: A Maruti car belonging to a school Headmaster, Mr Paramjit Singh, was stolen on Monday night from a busy market on the Bhanoki-Bhagatpura road. Mr Paramjit Singh had parked the car on the Bhanoki road.

Cabinet expansion flayed: The Lok Bhalai Party on Tuesday flayed the Cabinet expansion in Punjab stating that it was done at a time when the state was facing its worse-ever financial crisis. Mr N.K. Chopra, central committee member of the party, who presided over a meeting of the Doaba unit of the party held on Tuesday, said the expansion would put an additional burden of Rs 2 crore on the state exchequer.

PHILLAUR
Re-orientation programme: Mr Sarabjit Singh, DGP, Punjab, presided over the concluding function of a specialised re-orientation programme on personality development for gazetted Punjab Police officers in the academy on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sarabjit Singh said in view of the prevailing social challenges police officers should be professionally vibrant and up-to-date. He said the present re-orientation programme was a new step to develop the all-round personality of the officers. Col D.K. Chibber (retd), chief resource person of the re-orientation programme, said participants were imparted self-awareness inputs through participation techniques.

CHANDIGARH & VICINITY

KHARAR
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the National Public School Society, Kurali: Chairperson — Ms Neelam Bansal; Vice-Chairman — Mr Vijay Kumar Sharma; Manager Secretary — Mr Sushil Kumar Kaushal; Joint Secretary — Mr Ram Dhan Vashisht; Treasurer — Mr Anil Gupta; and Ex-officio member — Mr S.L. Verma.

SAS NAGAR
Distributed: The Lions Club Daffodil has started a campaign to distribute clothes to poor colony residents. Under the campaign, residents of Shaheed Udham Singh Colony were distributed clothes by Mr M.S. Billa and Mr Jagdish Singh on Wednesday.

Criticised: The Ropar district unit of Government Primary School Teachers Union has criticised the appointment of "undertrained" candidates in schools in place of ETT teachers. A press note of the union issued on Wednesday criticised the proposal to scrap the Primary Directorate by the Punjab Government.

HARYANA

HISAR
Unclaimed body: An unclaimed body has been lying in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital here since Sunday. According to the hospital record, the name of the deceased is Jeewan Dass s/o Mr Chhotu Ram of Balaji Mandir, Old Anaj Mandi, Hisar. The address, however, was found to be wrong. The person died in the hospital on January 2. The police as well as the nagar parishad have declined to cremate the body.

HUDA employees: The joint action committee of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) Employees Union has threatened to stop the supply of drinking water and sewerage work if the state government and the HUDA authorities failed to fulfil the employees' demands. This was announced by Mr R.K. Nagar, president of the state unit of the union, while addressing a gathering of the employees here on Wednesday.

Suicide: An unidentified youth was reported to have committed suicide by jumping before a running train near the Hindu College railway crossing here on Tuesday.

Killed: A woman was killed when a jeep carrying her turned turtle at Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Tuesday. According to the police, the accident occurred due to dense fog.

ROHTAK
Haryana bijli nigam: The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has recovered Rs 3.02 crore from consumers in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind and Sonepat towns under a campaign launched from December 7 to 31. Mr S.R. Piplani, Chief Engineer of the nigam, said 31,731 defaulting consumers had been identified by the nigam. Nigam officials disconnected the power supply of 17,081 such consumers of which 13,815 immediately deposited their arrears, following which their power supply was restored, he said.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KANGRA
Girl commits suicide: Sheena, a girl of class XII, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday by consuming poison in Mohar Jaman village of the district, the police said. The cause of the suicide was not known.

Woman held: The police on Tuesday arrested a woman allegedly for harassing her daughter-in-law, who attempted to commit suicide by consuming poison. The district police chief, Mr K.C. Sadiyal, said on Tuesday that Krishna Devi was arrested following a complaint made by her daughter-in-law, Neena Devi (21), that she was beaten up and harassed by her mother-in-law. A case under Section 498A, IPC, has been registered.

UNA
Arrested: Raj Kumar, a local resident, was arrested on Tuesday by the police for allegedly possessing 610 gm of charas. Mr Rithwik Rudra, SP, said the accused was produced in a court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody.

Free legal aid: To popularise the scheme of free legal aid to the poor in the district, the Legal Services Authority here has decided to organise camps at the Gagret and Amb block offices on January 8. The District and Sessions Judge, Mr J.N. Barowalia, will preside over the camp while Mr K.K. Pant, Deputy Commissioner, will be the chief guest. Mr J.N. Yadav, member secretary, Legal Services Authority, said all panchayat pradhans of the Gagret and Amb blocks, all presidents and vice-presidents of mahila mandals and members of the zila parishad, besides members of block samitis, had been invited to attend the camps.