R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Meeting held: A meeting of the newly constituted Hospital Welfare Committee of SGTB Hospital and allied hospitals was held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Dr B.L. Goyal, Principal, Medical College, Amritsar. The meeting was attended by the chief patron, Mr R.L. Bhatia, MP, and Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta, MLAs. The problems faced by the hospitals were discussed. Mr Bhatia promised to release funds for the purchase of a new ambulance and equipment for computerised laboratory.

Municipal employees: Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, MLA, on Wednesday sought to bring to the notice of the Local Bodies Minister, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, the announcement made by him last year that municipal employees would be present at 9 o'clock to help the public. In a press note, she said it had been noticed that a majority of the employees were never available before lunch time. She alleged that employees were in the personal duty of the city Mayor.

FARIDKOT
Public education programme: A public education programme to make people aware of the children's rights and their protection from social abuses was organised by the Punjab Human Rights Commission Punjab and the Indo-British Council at Jaitu in the district on Wednesday. As many as 55 children, including dropouts and disabled, besides 25 parents and 30 professionals from various sections of society, participated in it. The children were apprised of their rights through various skill games, paintings and writings.

Schools' conference: A state-level conference of the Recognised Affiliated Schools Association will be held at Nawanshahr on February 12. More than 3, 000 teachers are expected to participate in it. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Education Minister Tota Singh will address the conference. According to Mr Jagdish Rai Sharma, president of the association, the participants will urge the state government to accept their demands.

Free dental camp: More than 400 persons were examined in a free dental camp organised by the District Elders Service Society at Sadiq village on Wednesday. Medicines were distributed to the needy. According to Mr Jagmohan Singh Brar, president of the society, denture sets will be provided to the needy at concessional rates.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Case against sarpanch: The Deputy Commissioner, Mr V.K. Janjua, has directed the police to register a case against Mr Balbir Singh, a former sarpanch of Rurki village in the district for allegedly "grabbing" Rs 1.20 lakh released for the panchayat. According to Mr Janjua, the BDPO, Sirhind, had lodged a complaint with his office in this regard.

GARHSHANKAR
Body found: The body of Raja was found hanging with a rope on a canal bridge between Bhagwai and Denowal on Wednesday. A case has been registered.

GURDASPUR
Leprosy patients: As many as 65 persons have been detected to be suffering from leprosy in this district raising the list of native lepers to 79. This was disclosed by Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, at a function held here on Thursday to mark the second round of medication to end leprosy in the district. Dr S.S. Sohal, Civil Surgeon, was also present on the occasion. There are 3 leper colonies in the district at Dinanagar, Fatehgarh Churian and Batala which house 155 lepers.

HOSHIARPUR
Teachers' convention: Primary teachers of Punjab will hold a state-level convention on February 27 at Ludhiana to oppose the proposed decision of the state government to abolish the Primary Directorate. In a press note issued here on Thursday, Mr Mohinder Singh Paneshar, general secretary of the Government Primary Teachers Association, Hoshiarpur, said because of this proposed decision primary teachers would be deprived of their promotions.

Anti-encroachment drive: A special campaign is being launched in the district to remove encroachments from government land. Illegal possession from 65 acres of Forest Department's land from 34 persons at Bhaliala village has already been removed. This was disclosed by Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, in a press note issued here on Wednesday. He said after taking possession the boundaries of the area were sealed with barbed wire and 10,000 saplings were planted in it.

LUDHIANA
Operation camp: Eye Bank, Mansuran, organised a special family welfare operation camp on Tuesday at Government Rural Hospital, Mansuran, with the cooperation of the Lions Club. Many laproscopic operations were performed during this camp and Rs 50 as motivation money was awarded by the Lions Club, Ludhiana, to those who encouraged people for this operation.

Vehicle thief held: The police has arrested Abdul Rasid, alias Riaz Ahmed, a member of an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves which is operating in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh. In a press note, the SSP, Mr Kuldip Singh, said Rasid was involved in the theft of a car on February 5 and was later nabbed by the police .He said the gang was stealing vehicles and selling them in Srinagar.

Brandis prize: Dr D.S. Sidhu, Head, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, and Mr Karamjit Singh, research fellow, have been awarded the Brandis prize for their research paper published in Indian Forester, an international journal of repute. The research paper was adjudged the most outstanding publication of 1998. The paper published in the November, 1998 issue, dealt with the effect of extra water and space on the selection of plus trees in eucalyptus.

MALERKOTLA
Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Afsana Club: president — Mr Mansoor Alam; vice-president — Dr Ayyub Khan ; general secretary — Dr Anwar Ahmed Ansari; secretary — Mr Abdul Sattar Musafir and propaganda secretary — Mr Saleem.

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Hakim Abdul Hameed Memorial Welfare Society: president — Mr Naeem Ahmed; vice-president — Dr Shabbir; general secretary — Dr Irfan; and joint secretary — Mrs Nasreen Akhtar.

MOGA
Misuse of stadium: A stadium built at Merimustafa village under the Baghapurana police station in the district few years back is now being used for dumping garbage by residents. Though several people have objected to it, nothing has been done so far. The place is also being used to store cow dung.

PATHANKOT
Theft in NRI's house: Thieves broke into the house of Mr Bakhtawar Singh Gill, an NRI in the Model Town area on Tuesday and decamped with household articles, including a TV, gas cylinder and some valuable coins. Mr Gill was away to Amritsar when the incident took place and the house was locked. A case has been registered.

SAMRALA
Murder case: The SSP, Khanna district, Mr R.L. Bhagat, said on Thursday that the local police had achieved a breakthrough in a murder case which took place six months ago. He said it had now come to light that Ram Pal Singh allegedly got his son Bahadur Singh murdered in connivance with his other son, Dilbag Singh, his brother-in-law, Darshan Singh, by paying Rs 1.8 lakh to a retired constable, Mr Ram Sarup, of Kotkapura.

CHANDIGARH

CHANDIGARH
Paper reading contest: The inter-class paper-reading contest was organised by the Department of Public Administration, Government College, Sector 46, here on Thursday. The contest was won by Seema, BA (III) student. Amarjeet Singh and Gurpreet Kaur of the same class won the second and third prizes, respectively.

Sood Sabha:The Sood Sabha will organise the 38th “Sood milan” at Sood Bhavan in Sector 10, Panchkula, on February 13. A free eye camp will be held on the occasion. Besides, a Sood directory of families living in Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar will be released, according to a press note

PANCHKULA
Candidate's promises: The Congress candidate, Mr Chander Mohan, on Thursday visited several villages in Barwala block, including Khatoli, Batwal, Manaktabra, Khairwali, Muradnagar and Bharoli. Mr Mohan, criticised the BJP on grounds of non-performance during the past three years of its power, headed by Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Ravinder Rawal, official spokesperson of the party, in a press note said the pace of development in the district would be expedited if the Congress was voted to power. The BJP candidate, Mr Shyam Lal Bansal, also addressed public gatherings in the Barwala block. He promised a clean administrative set-up.

Scholarships: The Shivalik Foundation, Panchkula, a charitable society, disbursed scholarships amounting to Rs 25,000 to 205 needy students of various schools in the district. The General Secretary of the society, Mr M.R. Chawla, in a press note issued on Thursday, said that the society would purchase books for the needy students of local primary schools, and disburse them in the beginning of the next academic session. The society also distributed 118 pullovers and 100 pair of shoes to the students.

Medical tests: Clinical laboratory tests and X-ray facilities will be made available free of cost from February 15 by the Senior Citizens Council, Panchkula, and Seva Samithi, Chandigarh, on the campus of the Senior Citizens Council, Sector 15. Mr S.D. Tuli, a member, informed here on Thursday that the objective was to provide community health services to all especially the senior citizens.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Kisan clubs:The Kisan Club, Chudiala, and Kisan Club, Sambalkha, celebrated their first annual function on Wednesday. On the occasion, food crop display, animal display, sports, meetings and various other activities were organised, a press note said. Farmers participated in kabaddi, volleyball and tug-of-war. The winners were given prizes by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ambala.

Candidate visits villages:The Congress candidate from Naggal constituency, Mr Nirmal Singh, on Thursday visited Gobindgarh, Humayunpur, Mahmoodpur and Khaira villages. He said the present government was not in favour of giving relief to the farmers. The Chief Minister had not fulfilled his promise of giving free power and water to the farmers. He claimed that many senior workers of BSP had joined the Congress.

PANIPAT
VCC scheme: Panipat city would be the third in Haryana after Ambala and Gurgaon to have a "virtual calling card" (VCC) for the benefit of the public which is likely to be inaugurated on February 15. The Deputy General Manager of Telco, Haryana Circle, said under this scheme, there was no need to have a telephone connection and the card system was simple to use. Moreover, no extra money for local, STD and ISD calls would be charged. The call amount would be debited from the card value directly by using the code number allotted to the card holders.

Money orders: The Post and Telegraph Department has allegedly failed to deliver money orders properly to the destinations. A large number of migrated labourers, especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who send money to their families through money orders are reportedly victims of the "negligence" of postal officials. Mr S.K. Singh had sent a money order for Rs 1,000 to Sumitra Devi in Araria village in Bihar on December 16,1998, but it has not reached the destination so far. Mr Ramu Parshad of Uttar Pradesh, a vendor at the Panipat railway station, had sent a money order for Rs 2,000 on May 19,1999, which has also not reached so far.

REWARI
Murder cases solved: With the arrest of Manbir Singh of Pataudi and his accomplice, Om Parkash of Sunaria village, near here, the police has solved the mystery behind two blind murders which took place in December, 1999. The SP, Mr A.S. Chawla, said Manbir Singh had confessed to the crimes.

SONEPAT
Bodies found: The Kharkhauda police found the decomposed body of an unidentified youth floating in a canal near Jhinjhauli village, 25 km from here, on Wednesday. A case has been registered. According to another report, the Railway police found an unidentified body of a girl lying on the railway track between the Rathdhanna and Narela Railway stations on Wednesday. The police suspects it to be a case of suicide.

Woman commits suicide: Sheela (30) committed suicide allegedly by consuming insecticides in her house in Dhanik Basti here on Wednesday. A family quarrel is stated to be the cause of the suicide.

2 held for murder: With the arrest of two persons, the police on Thursday claimed to have solved the alleged murder of Zile Singh (65) of Jatwara Mohalla in the city on Sunday last. The SSP, Mr K.P. Singh, told mediapersons here that the arrested were Satvir, son of the deceased, and his associate Surinder, alias Leelu. The arrests, he said, followed an FIR lodged by Mr Om Parkash, elder son of the deceased. A dispute over the partition of the house is stated to be the cause of the murder, he added.

Electricity bills: Resentment prevails among people of Mohalla Kalan over the delay in issuing electricity bills by the Uttari Bijli Vitaran Nigam. Many consumers claimed having received the electricity bills only on Wednesday while the last date for deposited these was February 15 in cash and February 14 by cheques.

YAMUNANAGAR
Complaints redressed: As many as 27 complaints were redressed on the spot in a 'bijli sabha" organised in the office of the Executive Engineer, HVPN, Jagadhri, on Tuesday. Mr R.S. Nandwani, Superintending Engineer, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Yamunanagar, said here on Wednesday that 38 complaints were received from Jagadhri, Sadhaura, Bilaspur and Chhachhrauli subdivisions.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPUR
Civic body approves Budget: The Hamirpur Nagar Palika Parishad has given its approval to a Rs 1.27 crore Budget for 2000-01. The parishad hopes to fetch an income of about Rs 1.02 crore during the next fiscal year, according to Mr Raj Krishan Sharma, executive officer of the parishad. He told reporters here on Wednesday that a meeting of the parishad was held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Mr Jaswant Singh in which the Budget was approved.