R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

BARNALA
Appointed: Mr Daya Singh Sodhi, Chief, BJP, has appointed Mr Tarsem Jindal as president of the Barnala Mandal.

BATHINDA
Engineer bereaved: Mrs Parvati Devi (75), mother of Mr B.D. Singla, Municipal Engineer, died here on Friday after prolonged illness. She is survived by two sons and four daughters.

DHURI
Adalat: A revenue adalat was held at Katron village, 13 km from here, on Friday. Mrs Amrit Gill, SDM, said besides issuing 142 driving licences and deciding 13 mutation cases, 10 complaints were disposed off on the spot.

FARIDKOT
Strike: Teaching staff of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College here started an indefinite strike on Friday in protest against the "indifferent and bureaucratic" attitude of the state government. The strike was observed on a call given by the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association. Dr H.P.S. Sandhu, President, Medical Teachers Association, said that doctors would attend only emergency cases.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
Foundation stone: Mr Mal Singh Ghuman, Chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, laid the foundation stone of a grain market at Bassi Pathana on Friday. He said Rs 2.25 crore would be spent on the construction of this market and it would be completed by the kharif season. He said the department had taken various steps to check the evasion of market fees. He distributed cheques among 31 handicapped persons.

Development projects: The district administration will set up an artificial limbs and drug de-addiction centres here at a cost of Rs 40 lakh with aid from the Centre, Mr V.K. Janjua, Deputy Commissioner, said while addressing a public darbar at Sanghol village in Khamano subdivision on Friday. He said the government had released Rs 8.73 crore for various development projects in the district and Rs 3.67 crore for widow and old-age pensions. He said 16 new roads would be constructed and repaired at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore in the district.

LUDHIANA
Lecture: Dr Hilary Dobson, Professor of Veterinary Reproduction, University of Liverpool, UK, delivered a lecture on "Effects of stress on reproductive efficiency of farm animals" in the Department of Animal Reproduction, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Punjab Agricultural University, on Friday. The lecture was organised by the Punjab chapter of the Indian Society for the study of Animal Reproduction.

MALERKOTLA
Five held: The police has arrested five persons — Mohammad Salim, Mumtaj Mohammad, Mohammad Aslam, Dilawar Ali and Nadar Khan — on a charge of gambling. The DSP, Mr Surinder Singh Saini, said Rs 15,300 were seized from their possession.

Honoured: Mr Surjit Patar, a Punjabi poet, was honoured by the Pragti Manch, a literary society of Government College, here on Friday.

NANGAL
Flayed: The Gazetted and Non-Gazetted SC and BC Employees Welfare Federation, Punjab, has condemned the decision of the government to privatise NFL, the state president of the association, Mr Jasbir Singh Pal, said on Friday. He said the federation would challenge the decision in the court.

PATHANKOT
Open darbar: Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, said Rs 1.60 crore would be spent on the water supply schemes in Sujanpur villages. Addressing an open darbar held at Bhanwal village, he said sufficient amount had been released for the repairing of roads.

Camp: A two-day entrepreneurial awareness camp was held at I.T.I. Complex here. As many as 300 students participated in the camp.

PATIALA
Demonstration: The LIC employees under the banner of the All-India Insurance Employees Association held a demonstration on Friday in front of the LIC office at Choti Baradari for settlement of their charter of demands. Mr Narinder Walia, Divisional President of the Northern Zone Insurance Employees Association said the employees would continue the struggle till their demand of wage revision was not met.

Residents’ poll: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Urban Estate-I: President — Dr Gurcharan Singh; Vice-President — Dr P.S. Jammu; General Secretary — Mr V.S. Rahi; Joint Secretary — Dr Gurmel Singh; and Finance Secretary — Mr Jagjit Singh.

Eye specialists: A new body of eye specialists called the Patiala Academy of Ophthalmology of the city has been formed. The following are its office-bearers: Chairman — Prof M.S. Bhatia; President — Prof R.N. Bhatnagar; Vice-Presidents — Dr Dharamvir Chalia and Dr R.S. Dhaliwal; and General Secretary — Dr G.S. Randhawa.

PHAGWARA
Strike: Staff of the local Ramgarhia Polytechnic boycotted work on Friday in protest against the non-payment of salaries since November and arrears of the revised pay scales from January, 1996, to March, 1998. Mr P.L. Bagga, convener, Staff Welfare Association, said the agitation would continue till the payment of salaries and arrears.

SAMRALA
Dental camp: The Lions Club Samrala organised a free dental check-up camp at Primary School, Bazigar Basti, here on Saturday. Dr Pritpal Banipal examined 150 students. The club distributed toothpastes and brushes among 100 poor students. Lion Rajbir Singh Mangat, president of the club, said 30 persons had pledged to donate eyes.

SUNAM
Blood donation camp: The Lions Club (Moonak) organised a blood donation-cum- hepatitis-B vaccination camp at Moonak, 30 km from here, on Friday. Mr Arpit Shukla, SSP, Sangrur, inaugurated the camp. According to Mr Vipan Garg, secretary of the camp, 210 persons donated blood, while 186 persons were vaccinated against hepatitis-B. Blood samples of 162 persons were examined at the camp.

CHANDIGARH

Hindi play: The silver-jubilee show of the Hindi play Court Martial was performed on Friday evening at Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, for a select audience. The show was sponsored by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Demand: The Ghar Bachao Committee, in a press note issued on Saturday, demanded establishment of a Notified Area Committee in Naya Gaon and other adjoining villages. Describing the State Government as anti-people, the committee said the government was not allowing regularisation of buildings and immediate release of electricity connections to residents. The committee also demanded a civic body in the area on the lines of Zirakpur. The dharna by members of the committee entered the 34th day.

PANCHKULA
Farewell function: A warm farewell was given to students of Class XII of Satluj Public School, in Sector 4, here on Friday. A cultural programme which included comedy skits, songs, dances and other events, was the highlight of the function. A jam session was also held. Several prizes in various categories such as best-dressed boy and best-dressed girl were also given.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Lawyers: The Ambala Cantt Bar Association headed by Mr S.S. Rao said in press note issued on Friday that the Bar had not taken any decision to support any particular candidate in Ambala Cantt for the Assembly elections. Mr Rao said the members of the Bar were free to cast their votes according to their choice. On the other hand, the Bar Association headed by Mr Madan Gopal Bagga said the body had decided to support the independent candidate Mr Anil Vij. Mr Bagga said his association had already passed a resolution in this regard on February 3.

BSP rally: The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram, urged the people to support the BSP candidates in the interest of weaker sections of the society. He was addressing a rally in Ambala City on Friday. He said the BSP had been strengthening its base in the country. The BSP candidates from Ambala City, Ambala Cantt and Naggal were also present on the occasion.

BHIWANI
Seminar: A state-level anti-copying seminar was held here on Wednesday which was attended by district education officers and district primary education officers. It was presided over by the Haryana Board of School Education Secretary, Prof Jagdish K. Sihag.

HISAR
Data bank: A national resource data bank will be set up in the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, here, according to Dr R.K. Malik, Dean of the college. He said the bank would facilitate systematic analysis to draw projections for future plans in agricultural engineering.

SIRSA
One held: According to a press note issued by the police on Friday, Sadhu Ram, a resident of Makhusarani village, was booked under Sections 379, 279 and 427, IPC, for taking away a bus from Nathusari Chopta village on Tuesday. After stealing the bus he met with an accident. The bus was recovered.

Liquor seized: The Ding police has arrested Surinder Kumar Aggarwal and Raj Kumar Thaker at Baruwali village on a charge of possessing 1,500 pouches of illicit liquor. A case has been registered against them.

SONEPAT
Woman raped: A woman was raped by two persons while she was working in a field at Kanwali village, 20 km from here, on Friday. The woman has lodged an FIR with the Kharkhauda police station.

Notice: Mr S.S. Gulati, Divisional Engineer, DoT, has issued notices to three candidates — Mr Devi Dass (BJP), Mr Rajiv Jain (HVP) and Mr Dev Raj Diwan (Independent) — asking them to either remove their banners, flags and posters from telephone poles within three days or face action under the Election Commission's code of conduct.

YAMUNANAGAR
Shot dead: Jarnail Singh, a bandmaster, was allegedly shot dead by Birbal Parshad in a marriage party at Vishnu Nagar Colony here on Friday. The Farakhput police station has arrested him under Section 302 of the IPC.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
Yojana: A sum of Rs 3.12 crore will be spent in the Bilaspur forest circle under the "sanjhi van yojana", while Rs 87.50 lakh will be spent this year in Bilaspur district. This was announced by Himachal Forest Minister Roop Singh Thakur while addressing members of the Village Forest Development Societies of Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts at Ghumarwin, 30 km from here, on Friday.

JAWALAMUKHI
2 policemen held: The Kangra police arrested two traffic police personnel on Friday on a charge of beating a jeep driver, according to Mr K.C. Satyal, SP. He said a case had been registered against head constable Ramesh and constable Raj Kumar.

KULU
Foreigner held: The police arrested Daniel Jaeques Dolman, a French national, on Thursday at Manali and seized 450 grams of charas from possession. He was arrested by Mr Chuni Lal, Sub-Inspector, and Mr Balbir Singh, Head Constable. A case has been registered against him.

Meeting: A meeting of the District Joint Advisory Committee was held at Bachat Bhavan here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Mr Ashwani Kapoor, Deputy Commissioner. The DC directed the Public Health Department to provide water supply to the mini secretariat and install a hand pump at the PWD workshop in Shamshi. He said the Municipal Council would build the boundary wall around the veterinary hospital.

SHIMLA
Couple murdered: Shaknu Ram and his wife, Yashoda, were murdered in their residence in the remote Teran village of Shimla district on Thursday. The couple was living alone in a secluded house on the edge of the village. A team from the Dhalli police station is investigating the case.