R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Demonstration: The Telecom Engineering Services staff held demonstrations on Thursday in front of the General Manager, Telephone's office in support of their demands. The demonstrators threatened to stage a dharna on Friday also if their demands were not considered by the management.

Meeting: General body meeting of the Guru Nanak Dev University Non-Teaching Employees Association was held here on Thursday and a charter of demands was presented by Mr Kuljit Singh, Joint-Secretary of the association. The general body also condemned the police highhandedness in dealing with ETT students.

FEROZEPORE
Loudspeakers: The district administration has imposed restrictions on the use of loudspeakers in view of forth coming examinations. The District Magistrate, Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, said prior permission of the SDM would be required to use loudspeakers.

Road repair: The cantonment board authorities have started repair work on a 6 km stretch of Jhoke road here on the insistence of the Deputy Commissioner. The road is being repaired as a part of the Republic Day celebrations.

HOSHIARPUR
Sentenced: Mr L.R. Roozam, District Sessions Judge, sentenced Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Madda village and Surinder Kaur, a resident of Saida Chuck village to life imprisonment under Section 302 and 34 of the IPC on Wednesday. Sarabjit Singh had killed his wife', Meenu, with the aid of Surinder Kaur on January 16, 1999. The two had set the victim on fire after dousing her with kerosene.

Prohibitory orders: The District Magistrate, Mr Iqbal Singh Sidh, has extended Section 144, CrPC, throughout the district. Under this the assembly of five or more than five persons, taking out of processions, raising of slogans and carrying of sharp-edged weapons in public places has been banned. The District Magistrate also ordered house owners to furnish complete information about their tenants at the nearest police stations. These orders will remain in force upto March 18, 2000.

JALANDHAR
Road mishap: Jagdish Singh, a Constable, who was injured in a road accident on Wednesday, succumbed to injuries at the Army Hospital here on Thursday. He was injured seriously when his scooter skidded off the road near Rama Mandi.

Woman robbed, killed: An old woman was killed by a group of robbers who struck her house in Jandu Singha village on Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road on Wednesday. According to the police Gurdish Kaur, 55, was killed by some unidentified assailants who allegedly decamped with her earrings and some other jewellery.

KAPURTHALA
Farmers' club: The newly-formed farmers' club by Punjab and Sind Bank on Thursday expressed concern over the imposition of stamp duty by the Revenue Department for securing loans from nationalised banks for agriculture-related requirements. Presiding over a function of the club, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Mr G.S. Aulakh, assured the members that the stamp duty would be waived of like in other districts in the state.

LUDHIANA
Charge taken: Mr S.K. Seth took over as Chief Engineer (Central Zone), PSEB, here on Thursday in place of Mr Kirpal Singh, who has been appointed, member/op, PSEB, Patiala, according to an official announcement.

Decried: The Punjab State Pensioners Confederation has decried the one per cent cut in the interest rate of various small saving schemes. In a press note Mr B.R. Kaushal alleged that this cut in the interest rates had hit the senior citizens who had invested their money in small saving schemes.

Donated: The State Bank of India Ladies Club and Bhartiya State Bank donated sweaters and other woollens to the inmates of Red Cross Bhavan, a home for orphans, here on Tuesday.

Six arrested: The police has arrested six persons during a nakabandi near Jamalpur for allegedly blackmarketing kerosene. The arrested have been identified as — Rajiv, Inderjit Singh, Raju, Mukesh, Deepu and Rakesh. The police seized 5,800 litres of mixed oil from them. A case has been registered.

ROPAR
Arrears paid: Mr Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Punjab, said here on Thursday that the state government had sent drafts worth Rs 12.50 crore to the officers in different districts to pay arrears of pending salaries of Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis employees. Mr Kahlon presented the drafts at the local Zila Parishad office and said the salaries of the employees were pending for about a year.

CHANDIGARH

Blood donation: The Friends Blood Donors and Welfare Association, Sector 19, will hold its second blood donation camp on January 24 at Ramgarhia Bhavan, Sector 27.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local branch of the State Bank of India (BSRB unit): Chairman — Mr Raj Kumar Solanki; Vice-Chairman — Ms Renu Jain; Secretary-cum-Delegate — Mr Surinder Raghav; Assistant Secretary — Mr Deepak Bhatnagar; and Treasurer — Mr Ambuj Sharma.

Carnival: Ashiana Public School, Sector 9, will celebrate 'Carnival of the Millennium' on Saturday. The students would splash colours, sing, dance and even become little chefs.

Institute day: The Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39, will celebrate its 16th foundation day on January 24. The instituted on this day would be open to visitors from 10 am to 1pm. The celebrations include a lecture by Dr Lalji Singh, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, on DNA fingerprinting.

HARYANA

FATEHABAD
Welfare schemes: The Welfare Department has distributed a grant of Rs 15.24 lakh among widows, destitute and the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes in the district. Disclosing this to mediapersons here on Thursday Mr Anil Malik, Deputy Commissioner, said a sum of Rs 3.60 lakh had also been distributed among 72 persons belonging to economically weaker sections to enable them to construct houses.

ROHTAK
Cong allegation: The district unit of the Congress has charged the Chautala government with adopting a biased attitude about development in Rohtak. In a joint statement issued here on Thursday the DCC (Urban) chief, Mr Shadilal Batra, and DCC (Rural) President, Prof Virender Singh, claimed that Chautala government had ignored this district because of political reasons.

SONEPAT
Arrested: The police arrested Shambhu Ram for allegedly possessing 900 grams of charas from the GT Road near Murthal chowk, 8 km from here, on Thursday. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against him.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KUMARHATI
Liquor seized: The Parwanoo police has seized 5351 pouches (180 ml each) of liquor worth Rs 1 lakh from a truck on the Kalka-Shimla national highway on Thursday morning at the HP Police barrier, about 21 km from here. The driver of truck has been arrested and the truck has been impounded. The truck was on its way to Shimla from Chandigarh.

NURPUR
Anti-polythene rally: The local Municipal Council organised an anti-polythene rally here on Thursday. Schoolchildren and NSS volunteers from Government Senior Secondary School also took out "polythene hatao" procession and collected waste polythene from markets.