R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Students on dharna: About 200 jobless DIET students sat on a dharna at Hall Gate and protested against the ‘Karm Yogi’ scheme of the government here on Friday. They alleged that under the scheme untrained 10 + 2 students were offered teaching jobs at a nominal fees of Rs 2,000 per month, whereas, qualified ETT students were denied the same. At least, 1,900 ETT students in Punjab have become jobless due to this scheme, they added.

LUDHIANA
Four arrested: The police has solved four robbery cases with the arrest of a gang of three inter-district thieves. Those arrested have been identified as Ajay Khan, alias Rajan, Suresh Kumar, alias Biru, and Ranjit Kumar, alias Mistry. They were arrested from Jamalpur on Saturday. Mr Kuldeep Singh, SSP, said the three accused were active in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana districts.

PAU employees: Mr Avtar Singh, chairman of the PAU Employees Progressive Front, on Friday assured the members of the front of all possible help and sought their cooperation in getting the demands of the university employees fulfilled. He was addressing a function organised to celebrate “Millennium-2000” at the Kairon Kisan Ghar here. Mr S.K. Bhatia, Registrar-cum-Comptroller of the university, and Mr S.K. Gosain, P.A. to the Vice-Chancellor, were the chief guests on the occasion.

Punjab Municipal Act: The Ludhiana Motor Parts Manufacturers Association has criticised the amendments made by the Punjab Government in the newly enacted Punjab Municipal Act 6, 1999, which is presently with the President for his assent. The association has termed it anti-industry saying that it could have an adverse affect on the industrial growth in the state. At a meeting of the association held here on Friday, Mr Charan Singh Kohli, general secretary, said by implementing this Act, the government would lose the confidence of the industrial sector.

NAWANSHAHR
Quota promotions: Dr Brij Mohan Barthwal, press secretary of the Punjab State General Category Welfare Association, in a press note issued here on Saturday accused the bureaucrats for delaying the implementation of the Supreme Courts' judgement on quota promotions contrary to the governments' order. Seniority lists were also not prepared, he alleged.

Welfare society: The local Doaba Social Welfare Society in collaboration with the Rakkeran Dhahan, gram panchayat, organised a camp at the village, 10 km from here on Thursday, to make senior citizens and handicapped aware of the facilities being provided by the Social Security Department. Mrs Lilly Chaudhary, district social security officer, while presiding over the function distributed 220 identity cards among them.

ROPAR
‘Sangat darshan’: A ‘sangat darshan’ programme under the presidentship of Mr Khushi Ram, Additional Deputy Commissioner, was held at Purkhali, village near here, on Friday to redress villagers’ grievances. The residents urged the authorities to install deep tubewells for irrigation, besides opening of a power bill collection centre at Purkhali. They also demanded filling of teachers post in Government Senior Secondary School of the village.

Pensioners: The Punjab Government has released Rs 1 crore to clear the arrears of beneficiaries of old age pension scheme in the district. This was stated by Mr Gurinder Singh Grewal, Deputy Commissioner, while reviewing the pension schemes at a meeting held here on Friday.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Elected: The following have been unanimously elected office-bearers of the Giants Group of Ambala Creators for the year 2000: President — Mr Ajay Mehta; Secretary — Mr Neeraj Bhatia; and Treasurer — Mr Sudhir Lamba.

Celebration: The birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh will be celebrated by the sector 14 Gurdwara Sri Muktsar Sahib on January 16. Dr Amrik Singh and Mr Avtar Singh Patang, President and General Secretary, respectively, of the management committee of the gurdwara, said special congregation, discourse, Gurbani recitation and langar would be organised on the occasion.

KALKA
Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Kalka-Shimla Himachal Taxi Union: President — Mr Madan Lal Sharma; Vice-President — Mr Harminder Singh Bakshi; General Secretary — Mr Prem Chand; Secretary — Mr Kulbhushan Rai; and Cashier — Mr Santosh Kumar Jain.

PANIPAT
Bodies found: The police has found the body of a youth near Babar Pur. Another body of a sadhu was found near Machhroli village. The bodies have been sent for a post-mortem examination in the Civil Hospital.

ROHTAK
Thieves held: The police has recovered stolen goods worth Rs 3 lakh on Friday and has arrested two persons in this connection. The accused are Monu of Delhi and Bijendra of the local Rajendra Colony. Mr P.K. Agrawal, SSP, said the accused were involved in eight incidents of thefts in various shops in the town. He said the accused had confessed to having committed the crime.

Road repairs: An amount of Rs 29.66 crore will be spent on the construction and repair of link roads in the district during the current year. Stating this, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rajesh Khullar, said work of all 131 link roads in the district had been entrusted to the Agriculture and Marketing Board. He said besides this, Rs 3.69 crore would be spent on rural development schemes in the district. The amount had been distributed among the block and development panchayat officers for the development works, he added.

SONEPAT
NSS camp: A 10-day NSS camp organised at Government College, Gohana, concluded at Banwasa village, 40 km from here on Friday. According to Dr R.M.S. Malik, programme officer, students took part in cleanliness drive in and around the primary health centre of the village.

Dharna: Members of the Socialist Unity Centre of India sat on a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Friday. They were demanding provision of basic civic amenities and repair, of roads.

Foundation stone: The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, will lay the foundation stone of a Rs 40 crore cooperative sugar mill and address a gathering on January 11 at Ahulana village in this district.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Leopard skin seized: Ram Singh, a resident of Banoia village, was arrested when forest officials along with the police seized a leopard skin from his house here on Thursday. Mr Nagesh Guleria, DFO, said on Friday that a case under the Wild Life Act, 1972, has been registered against the accused.

Employees’ Union: The local Class IV Education Department Employees Union has warned the district Education Officer that they would be forced to agitate if the meeting between the union and the employees failed to take place before January 10. The demands of the union include promotion, ban on wrong transfers and drawing and disbursing powers for librarians.