R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

MALERKOTLA
ROBBERY: Three armed men robbed a glass shop owner, club road, Sangrur, of several lakhs of rupees on Friday. The police has recovered an empty bag and a scooter used to commit the crime. A case has been registered.

ARRESTED: The Sangrur police has arrested Sher Singh for his alleged involvement in the murder of Bhola Singh, a resident of Ravinder Nagar. A case under Section 302, IPC, has been registered against the accused.

FEE HIKE FLAYED: Parents of the local DAV School children at a meeting held at Kali Mata Mandir, here on Saturday, condemned 55 per cent hike in fees and 100 per cent increase in admission fees and other funds. They urged for the withdrawal of the hike.

NAWANSHAHR
CAMP: The local Blood Donors Council and the PSEB organised a blood donation camp here on Saturday. Mr Tarlok Singh Randhawa, Deputy Chief Engineer, PSEB, inaugurated the camp. As many as 31 units of blood were collected on the occasion.

15 ARRESTED: The police has launched a drive against those indulging in liquor and arms smuggling and drug trafficking, according to Mr Raghubir Singh, SP. Fifteen persons have been arrested and large quantity of liquor, drugs and arms seized from their possession. A case has been registered against them.

PATIALA
GEOGRAPHERS' CONFERENCE POSTPONED: The Punjab Geographers Conference scheduled to be held on March 14 and 15 at Punjabi University has been postponed indefinitely, according to Dr H.S. Mangat, Professor and Head, department of geography of the university.

GCG, CHANDIGARH, WINS QUIZ CONTEST: The Government College for Girls Chandigarh won a state level inter-zonal quiz contest in the discipline of geography, organised at Punjabi university here on Friday. The second prize went to DAV College for Men, Chandigarh, while Lyallpur College for Women had to be content with the third place.

ROPAR
HOLA MOHALLA: The District Magistrate has ordered the closure of all liquor shops in Anandpur Sahib and Bharatgarh near Kiratpur Sahib during the Hola Mohalla festival from March 16 to 21.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ropar Thermal Plant unit of the PSEB Employees Federation: president — Mr B.S. Saini, vice-presidents — Mr Harmesh Singh and Mr Madan Pal; secretary — Mr Kartar Singh; joint secretary — Mr Kewal Krishan; press secretary — Mr Ram Singh Jhajj; and treasurer — Mr Jai Chand.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Ropar District Chemists Association: Patron — Mr Vinod Bhushan Jain; President — Mr Harish Chander Sethi; Vice-Presidents — Mr Sudharshan Chaudhary, Mr Manjit Singh, Mr H.S.Bhatia and Mr Arvinder Singh; General Secretary — Mr L.D.Jindal; Organising Secretary — Mr Rajesh Anand; Finance Secretary — Mr Satpal Garg and Secretary — Mr Satish Kumar Gupta.

SAMANA
COLLEGE FUNCTION: The local Government College on Saturday organised its annual function-cum-silver jubilee celebration. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Cabinet Minister, presided over the function. Mr Dhindsa announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the development of the college. Mr Anuridh Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, gave away the prizes to the winners.

CHANDIGARH

GARHWAL SABHA FUNCTION: The Garhwal Sabha will organise “Mandaan-2000”, a cultural programme, at Shantikunj in Sector 16 here on March 26. Garhwali folk singers and poets, including Narendra Singh Negi (Pauri), Kishan “Bagot” (Meerut), Kanhaya Lal Dandriyal, Lalit Keshvan (Delhi), Neter Singh Aswal (Ghaziabad), Dr Nagender Jagudi (Uttarkashi), Jeevanand Shriyal (Tehri), Gokulan and Kimothi (Chamoli), Puran Pant ‘Pathih’ (Dheradun) and Veena Benjwal (Shrinagar-Garhwal) are expected to participate.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH CENTRE: A meeting of the governing body of the Strategic Research Centre was held at Government College, Sector 11, to elect the new office-bearers of the organisation. These are: Director — Mr HS Sodhi, Deputy Director — Col DS Cheema (retd) and Secretary — Dr Rakesh Dutta.

DR J. S. SARKARIA RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN: Dr J.S. Sarkaria was re-elected Chairman of the National Cactus and Succulent Society of India at its annual general meeting. Other office-bearers are: Vice-Chairman — Mrs Ravi Lal; President — Mr Ramji Lal; Vice-Presidents — Mr R.P. Puri and Mr B.P. Singh; Secretary — Lieut-Col C.S. Bewli; Joint Secretary — Mrs Komal Anand; and Treasurer — Mr M.S. Kohli.

LIONS CLUB OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Lions Club, Chandigarh Nightingale of district 321-F of the Lions Club International for 2000-2001: President — Mr Sushma Malhotra; Vice-President — Mr Devinder Bedi; Secretary — Mr Pritpal Benipal; Treasurer — Mr Arun Bala Vij; PRO — Mr Harinder Banga.

THE ART OF LIVING PROGRAMME: The servants of the People Society will organise “The Art of Living Programme” at Lajpat Rai Bhavan from March 15. The four-day programme will be conducted by Mr Sunil Gulati and his wife Mrs Shashi Gulati.

DERA BASSI
TESTS FOR DRIVING LICENCE:The motor vehicle inspector (MVI) of Patiala will conduct tests and verify the documents of applicants for driving licences here on March 15. This will be the first visit of the MVI since the government authorised the MVIs to issue driving licenses.

PANCHKULA
HANS RAJ HANS OPENS STUDIO: Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans inaugurated Digital Star Studio in Sector 7 here on Saturday. The director of the studio, Mr JB Handa, said that the editing equipment in the studio, Media 100, was the latest with built-in fire wire.

SAS NAGAR
PUNJAB MATRICULATION EXAM: As many as 2.91 lakh regular candidates and 87,450 private candidates will appear in the matriculation examination of the Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) beginning from Monday. At least 12, 870 teachers apart from the district education officer will be on duty. A control room with the following telephone numbers: 224697 and EPABX no. 670605/ 670593/ 670614/ 670581/ 674608 - ext 162 have been established at the head office of the board here.

HARYANA

REWARI
URGED: The local District Bar Association members at a meeting held here on Saturday passed a resolution urging the president to recall the Bihar Governor, Mr Vinod Chander Panday. They also condemned the Governor for inviting Mr Nitish Kumar, NDA leader, to form the government.

ROHTAK
CYCLIST KILLED: A cyclist identified as Sanjay died in an accident near Kalanaur Town on the Bhiwani Road on Friday. He was hit by a speeding motorcycle. A case has been registered.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
ANNUAL FUNCTION: An annual prize distribution function of Government Post Graduate College was held here on Saturday. Mr Maheshwar Singh, MP, while presiding over the function called upon the students to work hard. He congratulated Ludar Chand, a student of this college, for representing the country in the International Winter Sports. He announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh from MPs development fund to be released in two instalments for the development of the college library. A sports stadium at Dhalpur will be completed soon, he added.