R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BATHINDA
Thermal plants: The two units of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant Lehra Mohobbat, have generated 3036 lakh units during January 2000 with 97.17 per cent plant load factor. Mr Subash Bansal, Chief Engineer (Operation and Maintenance), GHTP, said here on Monday that the plant had also achieved the annual target of 2600 million units.

Condemned: Mr Gopal Chand Gupta, President of the Bathinda Cloth Merchants Association on Monday said the cloth merchants of the region had condemned the levying of 12 per cent sales tax on the silk cloth imposed by the Punjab Government. He said levying of sale tax would affect the cloth trading.

FEROZEPORE
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Citizens Council: President — Mr Raj Kumar Kakkar; senior vice president — Mr Roshan Lal Sethi; general secretary — Mr Parveen Malhotra; secretary — Mr Ravikant Jain; and treasurer — Mr Amrik Singh.

KHARAR
Khatri Sabha office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Khatri Sabha: Chairman — Mr Sohan Lal Manchanda; President — Mr Baij Nath Kapoor; Vice-President — Mr Sat Pal Bakhtiar; Secretary — Mr Lal Chand Seth; and Cashier — Mr Banarsi Das.

Elections of Mair Rajput held: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Mair Rajput Sabha: Chairman — Mr Devi Dyal Varma; Deputy Chairman — Mr Dharam Pal Bhama; President — Mr Banke Bihari Karwal; Secretary — Mr Prem Sagar Karwal; Press Secretary — Mr Brij Bihari Karwal; Cashier — Mr Gian Chand Kumprewale; and Vice-Presidents — Mr Mohan Singh Rajpoot and Mr Pawan Kumar Dhelpur.

LUDHIANA
Prize: A class 10 student of the local SKN Model High School, Reena Rani, has won the second prize in All India Essay Competition on "How To Save Oneself From The Ill Effects of Television," being organised by the Ram Niwas Asha Rani Lakhotia Trust, New Delhi. Students from 108 schools participated in the contest. Reena Rani has been awarded a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 1,500.

MOGA
Liquor shop: Residents of the Akalsar road in the Civil Lines area of the town have on Monday urged the authorities to remove the liquor shop opened recently by the Excise and Taxation Department. Residents said if the authorities failed to remove the shop they would stage a demonstration against it.

Sewage system: Residents of several villages in this district complained here on Sunday that despite promises made by the Chief Minister of Punjab they had not been provided with potable water. Even the sewerage system had not been laid down for the proper disposal of the village waste.

PATHANKOT
Petition filed: Mr Harish Kumar Handa on Monday filed a petition under Section 97 of the CrPC in the court of Mr K.K. Kareer, Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, to seek the release of his wife Indu Bala who has been illegally confined by her father. They married against the wish of Indu Bala’s parents and has forcibly confined her their house.

PHILLAUR
Rail link: The Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Shakti Sena national vice-president, Swami Virendranand Giri, on Monday urged the Union Government to suspend rail and bus services between India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh to curb Pakistan’s conspiracy to send fake currency notes besides drugs.

TARN TARN
Killed: Surinder Singh, a resident of Sarli village, was allegedly killed by his relatives, Nirmal Singh Nimma and Dilbag Singh Bagga, on Saturday at the bus stand of Takhtuchak village. A case under Section 302, IPC, has been registered against the accused.

Arrested: Randhir Kaur Dheero, wife of Sucha Singh, a resident of Bhikhiwind, was arrested and 80 intoxicant injections were recovered from her possession on Saturday. A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against her.

Goods destroyed: Goods worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in a fire that broke out in Pritpal Industries, Tarn Taran road, Amritsar, on Wednesday. The cause of fire is stated to be short circuit.

CHANDIGARH

Yoga camps to be held: The Chandigarh Yog Sabha in collaboration with the Education Department of the Chandigarh Administration will organise 10-day yoga training camps in schools of the city. These training programmes which have been prepared by experts are useful for uplifting the physical,mental and moral standards of the students. This was disclosed here on Monday by Mr Ravinder Krisha, President of the Chandigarh Yog Sabha.

Police to organise capsule course: The Chandigarh police will organise a two-day capsule course on the International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at the UT Guest House from Tuesday. The course will be conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Adviser to the Administrator, Ms Vineeta Rai, will inaugurate the course.

Tabla instructors meet: The general meeting of The Tabla Instructors Association of the Schools of Chandigarh was held on Monday. The following persons were elected the office-bearers: President — Swarn Singh Kamboj; General Secretary — Pardeep Kumar; Treasurer — Surinder; Convener — R.S. Sham.

Annual function of sabha: In a press note issued here on Monday, Ms Neena Tewari, President of the Mahila Sunder Kand Sabha of Chandigarh, said the annual function of the sabha would be held on Tuesday, at shed no. 3, Maloya Colony. Ms Vineeta Rai, IAS and Advisor to the Administrator of Chandigarh, would be the chief guest and Mr K.D. Sharma, Managing Director of K.D. Sharma Real Estate Limited, would preside over the function. A type-cum-computer centre would also be inaugurated by Ms Rai, she said.

Exhibition of Dogra's paintings: The Art Folio, Sector 9, will open an exhibition of paintings by a first-year student of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) course, Vikas Dogra, on Thursday at 1 noon. The young age of the artist is reflected through his 30-odd works where an urge of the artist to express himself through brushes and colours is evident. The use of patriotic and religious symbols by Vikas shows a little lack of maturity. However, some frames show his brilliant play with colours.

PANCHKULA
Open darbar on cops' problems: The monthly open darbar, to hear the grievances of policemen will be held on Wednesday by the Director General of Police of Haryana at Police Headquarters, Sector-6, here, from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm. Any member of public or a police official on leave can appear in the darbar for redressal of their grievances against the police department. Those who had appeared in last darbar and their grievances had not been redressed still, could also appear, a press note issued by the DIG (M and W) said here on Monday.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Assault: The Himachal Pradesh Journalists Federation has condemned the assault on Journalist Rjinder Sharma and demolition of a part of his house. The president of the Journalists Federation Jai Kumar has urged the Chief Minister to probe the incident.

KUMARHATTI
Theft: The police has interrogated 120 Kashmiri and Bihari labourers in connection with the theft in the house of church priest on February 2 at Kasauli, 22 km from here. Raghuvir, the priest, had lodged the FIR on February 3. He alleged that on his return he found that his house was ransacked and goods worth Rs thousands of rupees were stolen. A case under Sections 457 and 380, IPC, has been registered. In another incident Khem Chand, of Daran village, has been remanded in police custody for seven days. He was caught red handed by the villagers while he was trying to steal money from the donation box installed at Mata Vaishnv Devi temple at Kanda village, 8 km from here.

SOLAN
Campaign in charge: The Minister for Sports and Youth Services, Mr Parveen Kumar Sharma, campaign in charge for the forthcoming local byelections told mediapersons here on Sunday that the image of the BJP candidate, Mr Rajiv Bindal, and the development in the area would form the main planks of party's election strategy.