R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
Teachers' plea: A deputation of private college teachers of the district led by Prof Bhushan Lal, unit president, DAV College, and Dr V.K. Sharma, former district unit president, met Dr Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and apprised him of the long-pending demands of teachers regarding the implementation of UGC grades and pension and gratuity scheme. Dr Manmohan Singh assured them that the matter would be raised in Parliament.

Seminar on textiles: The General Consumers District Textile Manufacturers Association and the District Consumer Forum held a seminar here on Saturday. Mr G.D. Chawla, member of the forum and Mr Satwant Singh Johal, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Development, addressed the seminar. Participants suggested that percentage of polyester and cotton fibre should be mentioned on the textile item.

BARNALA
Computerisation plan: The office of the local Sub-Registrar will be computerised within a month, Mr Rahul Bhandari, SDM said on Saturday. All Sub-Registrar officers of 26 tehsils in Patiala division would also be computerised.

Grievances redressed: As many as 85 grievances out of a total of 131 brought to the notice of Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur were settled on the spot at "sangat darshan" hosted at Maur Nabha village on Friday. Panchayats of Shehna Block complained of poor drinking water, power, education and medical facilities. The Deputy Commissioner announced a grant worth Rs 1 lakh for a school of Maur Nabha village and Rs 2 lakh for brick-lining of village streets and drains.

SDM's order: Mr Rahul Bhandari, SDM, has pulled up the local municipal council authorities for poor upkeep the municipal council library situated at local Aggarsen Chowk. He has ordered the authorities to set things right in the library by February 29.

GARHSHANKAR
Fatal mishap: Amrit was killed on the spot when the bus in which he was travelling collided with a truck on Saturday on the Garhshankar-Balachaur road. Driver of the bus Charan Singh and driver of the truck Jasbir Singh were injured and were admitted to the local civil hospital.

Husband jailed: Kulwant Singh was awarded eight years' imprisonment for killing his wife Kamlesh Kaur by the District and Sessions Judge Mr B.C.Gupta. He gave her some poisonous substance on December 12, 1995.

KHANNA
Arrested: The police has arrested Dilbagh Singh of Machiwara for possessing Rs 6.5 lakh hawala money. A case has been registered.

LUDHIANA
Hip implant: The first cementless ceramic hip implant in the Jammu region was successfully performed at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, on February 19, Dr N.K. Aggarwal, Head, Department of Orthopaedics, said at a press conference here on Saturday. The patient, a BSF Jawan ( 33) injured in a railway accident in June last year, has now made an excellent recovery and was walking without support, he claimed.

Relief fund: Students of SKN Model High School, Tilak Nagar, have collected Rs 5100 for the Orissa relief fund. Earlier too they had collected Rs 2100 for the fund, Mr K.D. Arora, Principal of the school informed.

MALERKOTLA
Post vacant: The post of vice-president of the municipal council here is lying vacant for the past one month. The vice-president Mrs Salma Parveen, was removed following a no-trust motion. Due to rift in the municipal council development work in town is at standstill. Residents have demanded an immediate end to it so that development work in the city can be started.

Award for writer: Punjabi writer and general secretary of the Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha , Dr S.Tarsem has been selected for AICB Millennium Award for his achievements in the field of literature and social welfare activities. This award would be presented to him at the national conference of the blind on February 23, by Mr K.C. Pant, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.

Fake currency: The foreign currency which was seized by the police on February 15 was fake, the SSP said. The police has arrested Gurdeep Singh, a resident of Gopalpur for trying to sell the currency.

NAWANSHAHR
Sarpanch booked: A case under the Arms Act has been registered against Darshan Singh Brar, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, Satvir Singh , sarpanch of Palli Jhikki, and his brother Jasvir Singh for poll violence. Two persons were injured at Palli Jhikki village during polling on Thursday when Mr Satvir Singh allegedly fired shots from his revolver.

PATIALA
Chemists’ body office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Wholesale Chemists Association for a two-year term: Patron — Mr Surjit Mehta; Chairman — Mr P.L. Uppal; President —Mr Jagdish Magoo; Vice-President — Mr Inderjit Dua; General Secretary — Mr Gurinder Singh; Secretary — Mr Love Lesh Singla; and Cashier — Mr Rajesh Mittal.

Doctor promoted as CMO: Dr Naresh Raj, Senior Medical Officer, Punjab State Electricity Board, has been promoted as Chief Medical Officer, according to a press note issued on Sunday.

Bar Association office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Bar Association, Labour Court: President — Mr Viday Vatrana; Vice-President —Mr R.K. Markan; and General Secretary — Mr S.D. Marwaha.

PHAGWARA
Shop gutted: A cloth shop on the Loha Mandi road in the town was gutted in a fire on Saturday, fire brigade sources said. The cause of the fire was yet to be known.

Seminar held: A seminar on "Challenges before society in context of higher education" was held at the local Kamla Nehru College for Women on Thursday. Fifteen college principals from West Bengal, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh participated in it. The college is the first one in Punjab to have been declared a model college by the National Institute of Promotion of Education and Administration. Dr Rita Bawa, Principal, stressed the need to consider education a mission and not a vocation.

TARN TARAN
Mills staff union: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Goindwal Coop Spinning Mills Employees Union, Goindwal Sahib: president — Mr Kulwinder Singh Khehra; general secretary — Mr Tarsem Singh; vice-presidents — Ms Rajwinder Kaur, Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr Chanchal Singh, Mr Raghbir Singh Virk; and treasurer — Mr Mohan Lal.

Office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local sub-division unit of the Medical Practitioners’ Association: president — Dr Darshan Singh Kadgill; general secretary — Dr Sukhbir Singh Kakka Kandiala; senior vice-president — Dr Narinder Pal Singh Dhillon; and treasurer — Dr Avtar Singh Pandori Gola.

CHANDIGARH

Workshop for geography teachers: A lecture-cum-interaction workshop for geography teachers of all government and private schools of the city and surrounding areas will be organised by the Survey of India on its premises in Sector 32 on Tuesday as part of National Science Day celebrations. Brig K.S. Khatri, Director, Survey of India, will be the main speaker.

Union lists demands: The Indian Council for Child Welfare Employees Union, Chandigarh, in a press note issued on Sunday, listed its long-pending demands, including payment of 34 per cent of dearness allowance to employees working at a regular pay scale and giving pay scales to helpers/ayahs.

Residents’ body office-bearers: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 55: Adviser — Mr P.K. Mitra; President — Mr S.S. Cheema; Vice-President — Mr A.S. Heer; General Secretary — Mr S.L. Goyal; Secretary — Mr Jagjit Singh; Auditor — Mr R.S. Badhan; and Treasurer — Mr M.K. Pandita.

Ladies’ wrist watch found: Mr Nand Lal Sharma of Sector 15 has found a ladies’ wrist watch from near a park in the sector. The watch can be had from the Tribune reception.

PANCHKULA

Chautala addresses rally: Addressing a public rally at Barwala on Saturday, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, INLD chief, said the INLD-BJP combine would win at least 74 seats in the Assembly elections. Lambasting the Bansi Lal government for failing to provide basic amenities to the people, he said he would improve the standard of basic amenities.

SAS NAGAR
PUDA panel to review work: An advisory committee of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) has been constituted to review development works in the town. Though no official information was released by PUDA, sources said representatives of residents welfare associations, former municipal councillors and officials of the PUDA were on the panel of the advisory committee.

HARYANA

AMBALA
Consumers’ body office-bearers: The Akhand Bhartiya Upbhokta Parishad has appointed Mr Ashwani Nandra the State President of the body, according to a press note issued on Sunday. Mr Tarun Kapoor, Mr Parveen Garg, Mr Sunil Thakur and Mr Satish Arora have been appointed Public Relations Officer, Organising Secretary, Joint Secretary and Regional Officer, respectively.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

CHAMBA
Salary not paid: Staff of the Dalhousie-Chamba region of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation have criticised the management for the delay in the release of their salary of January. They have threatened agitation in case their salaries were not released.