R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
AIDS SEMINAR: The International Forum for Education and Development in an effort to create awareness about AIDS and its prevention conducted a camp at Dyal Bagh Spinning and Weaving Mills. Dr Rajinder Singh, Civil Surgeon, Amritsar elaborating on facilities available in government hospitals advised the public to adopt preventive measures.

BARNALA
POPPY HUSK: In a special drive against anti-social elements in Barnala police district the police recovered 25 kg of poppy husk and 150 kg of lahan. This information was given to mediapersons here on Thursday by Mr Ishwar Singh, Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Barnala police district.

FAZILKA
MAN BURNS WIFE: A married man burnt his wife to death at Chananwali village 6 km from here. In her dying declaration the woman, Sarbjit, said her husband sprinkled petrol on her quilt and set it on fire while she was asleep five days ago. She was admitted to the local Civil Hospital with extensive burns and died there on Wednesday. The victim had been married for seven years and had one child.

QUESTION PAPERS: In an interesting incident at the Government High School, Lalowali 6 km from here the school received just 40 Maths question papers for its 60 students of class 7. The headmaster of the school eventually, managed to arrange for more question papers from other schools.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following were unanimously elected office-bearers of the Bassi Pathanan unit of Bharat Vikas Parishad in a meeting here on Thursday — president — Tilak Raj Sharma; secretary — Ramesh Malhotra; cashier — Pushpinder Gupta; senior vice-president — Surinder Dhiman; vice-president — Bir Bhan Hasija.

ACCIDENT: A scooterist identified as Gursewak Singh of Sampla village was crushed to death by a speeding mini bus in Sirhind town on Thursday. After hitting the scooter the driver of the bus lost control over his vehicle, which overturned injuring more than 27 passengers. The driver and the conductor of the bus fled the scene.

KHANNA
CASE SOLVED: Khanna police SSP R.L. Bhagat said here on Thursday that the police had solved a case of murder of a Bihari labourer, Ram Chander and arrested Bhola also of Bihar in the case. The police had also solved four cases of theft, arrested four persons and recovered stolen goods worth Rs 43,3420.

LUDHIANA
FARMERS CLUB: A seminar to inform farmers and bankers of the formation of a farmers club under the Vikas Volunteer Vahini Scheme of the government was organised by NABARD here on Friday. The seminar was addressed by Mr H.S. Lamba, Deputy General Manager, Punjab and Sind Bank, besides officials of NABARD and Punjab National Bank.

COTTON BREEDER: Dr L.S. Randhawa, Cotton Breeder of Punjab Agricultural University has been appointed as Head, Regional Station, Sirsa under the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur. Dr Randhawa has made significant contribution in cotton research.

ELECTRICITY ROW: The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings charged the Punjab State Electricity Board of acting in a partisan manner in the recent standoff between board employees and traders. In a joint statement Mr Inderjit Singh Pardhan, president and Mr Avtar Singh, general secretary of the chamber said that industrialists whose connections were checked by board employees were being framed. They urged the Chief Minister and PSEB chairman to intervene.

MALERKOTLA
FUNCTION: The annual prize-distribution function was organised by the local Government College on Monday. Mr G.K. Singh Dhaliwal Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh for the vocational course of information technology.

CLASS-ONE STATUS: There is resentment among Punjab Government school cadre officers at officers of other Punjab Government departments such as college lecturers, vets etc who draw lower pay than the school officers being given class-one status while school officers are denied it. Mr Joginder Singh Aulakh state president, Gazetted Educational School Services Association, Punjab in a press note said that school officers were being denied class one status despite the Fourth Punjab Pay Commission recommending it for school principals.

MOGA
COURT SOUGHT: Citizens of Baghapurana on Thursday at a meeting chaired by president, Baghapurana Sangharsh Samiti, Balwant Singh Brar urged the government to set up a court of a sub-judge in the town.

POWER FLUCTUATIONS: Residents of Bhekha village under Baghapurana police station in this district said here on Thursday that their electrical gadgets and electronic equipments had been damaged by low voltage and power fluctuation over the past about two months. They urged the Punjab State Electricity Board to supply uninterrupted power.

PATIALA
ALBUM: Pop singer Gursewak Mann released his latest album, Lara Lappa, in arna barne chowk here on Friday.

MAHARANI LADIES CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Maharani Ladies Club here: President — Mrs Pratibha Jain; Vice-President — Mrs Dolly Sadhana; Secretary — Mrs Shubhchint Kaur Sodhi, Joint Secretary — Mrs J. B. Singh and Treasurer — Mrs Tarvinder Kaur.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Patiala District Yoga Association: President — Mr Naresh Kumar Phatak; General Secretary — Mr K.C. Sood; Finance Secretary — Mr Raghbir Singh; Senior Vice-President — Mr P.K.Bhardwaj; Vice-Presidents — Ms Kanwaljit Kaur Bajwa and Mr Surinder Singh Tiwana; and Joint Secretary — Mr Charanjit Singh.

ROPAR
THERMAL PLANT: Hundreds of members of the Ropar Thermal Project Contractor Worker Union observed a strike at the Ropar Thermal Plant and held a rally at the main gate of the plant on Thursday. They demanded abolition of contract labour system at the plant as per the notification of November 27, 1998 of Punjab Government, cancelling of all contracts of contractors involved in EPF embezzlement case, wages to the workers through the PSEB, and issuance of EPF pass books to the workers.

ZIRAKPUR
BANK BRANCH: The Oriental Bank of Commerce opened its 916th small-scale industrial (SSI) branch here on Thursday. Mr PK Sharma, General Manager of the Bank, said the number of the bank’s branches in Patiala district had gone up to 43. The bank had been declared number one among the nationalised banks, he claimed. Mr RS Bindra, DGM, Mr TS Minas, AGM, and Mr Anoop Kapoor, Branch Manager, Dera Bassi, were also present.

CHANDIGARH

WELFARE SABHA: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Mahasha Welfare Sabha: President—Mr Mohinder Paul; Vice-President — Mr Mangal Sain; General Secretary — Mr Kulwant Singh; and treasurer — Mr Ravinder Kumar.

RESIDENTS' BODY:The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Organisation, Sector 38 (A&B): President — Mr Amrit Lal Mahajan; Vice-President — Mr S.S. Bakshi; General Secretary —Mr DV Prasad; Joint Secretary — Mr Rajinder Bassi; Treasurer — Mr V.K. Gupta; and Auditor — Mr P.C. Mehra.

JAIN SABHA CHIEF: Mr Bhushan Kumar Jain and Mr Kuldip Raj Jain have been elected President and General Secretary of the SS Jain Sabha, Sector 18, here. Other office-bearers are : Vice-President — Mr Sudershan Jain; Organising Secretary — Mr Ram Gopal Jain; and Cashier — Mr Suresh Chand Jain.

SBI STAFF: The following have been elected office-bearers of the State Bank of India Staff Association; Chairman — Mr Surinder Sharma ; Vice-Chairman — Mr G S Thakur; Secretary — Mr S C Suri ; Assistant Secretary — Mr Sukhwinder Gandhi and Treasurer — Mr Darshan Kumar.

CAMP: The Lions Club Chandigarh Greater organised a medical check-up camp at the multi purpose project building at Karsan village on Thursday. As many as 250 patients were examined for various ailments. The patients were provided with blood testing, ECG and X Ray facilities free of cost, according to Mr Vijay Mahen, PRO of the club.

COMPETITION: Freedom India, an NGO, will organise a brisk walk competition on April 2 at the Sukhna Lake to raise funds for dustbins for the Municipal Corporation. Entry forms are available with the officers in charge of various gardens maintained by the civic body, according to Mr Ankur Kapoor, President of the organisation.

PANCHKULA
DENTAL BODY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Indian Dental Association: President — Dr Shanker Dev Goyal; Vice-Presidents — Dr Kanwaljit Saini, Dr P.S. Rana, Dr R.P. Yadav; General Secretary — Dr R.K. Takkar, and Treasurer — Dr Ashok Soni.

SOCIETY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Panchkula Social and Cultural Society: President — Mr SL Jindia; Senior Vice President — Mr MP Sachdeva, Vice President — Mr O.P. Garg, General Secretary — Mr Naresh Bansal, Finance Secretary — Mr K.K. Moudgil; Organising Secretary — Mr A.L. Gupta; Public Relations Secretary — Mr S.L. Kamra.

SAS NAGAR
COMPLAINT: The Consumers Protection Forum complained to the state transport authorities on Wednesday that Chandigarh-bound buses from different destinations in Punjab did not touch the local bus stand, and local residents were forced to hire autorickshaws at exorbitant fares.

NEW COURSES: The Department of Industrial Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, has introduced a course in computer numerical controlled Machines at its institute here. Courses in CAD and CAM are also being introduced at the institute.

HARYANA

JIND
MAN KILLS FAMILY: Pritipal, a resident of Bhana Brahmana village in this district, allegedly murdered his wife and three minor children and Tuesday night and later committed suicide. According to the reports received here on Thursday, Pritipal allegedly killed his wife Bala (34) his sons Vicky (10) and Amit (6) and his daughter Meena (13) with a sharp-edged weapon. Pritipal was reportedly suffering from depression.

SONEPAT
2 DIE IN ATTACK: Two persons who sustained injuries during the attack by some outlaws in Sujan Singh Park and Shadipur village on Wednesday night, succumbed to their injuries here on Thursday. According to police sources, the victims have been identified as Mr Dhan Singh (5)) and Mr Khazan Singh (40) both residents of Shadipur village. A woman and her son who sustained injuries and were admitted to a private hospital are in a critical condition.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

BILASPUR
POSTAL STIR: The joint action committee of the All-India Postal Employees Unions held a day long dharna outside the head post office here on Thursday. They warned that they would start an indefinite strike from May 2 if their long-pending demands were not met.

LAWYERS' STRIKE: The district bar association boycotted courts and offices and observed a one-day strike in protest against the governments failure to punish police officials responsible for the brutal lathicharge on Delhi advocates on February 24. They also sought shifting of courts of the tehsildar and naib-tehsildar Bilaspur from its present distant location to the D.C. complex near the judiciary complex.

KULU
BLOOD DONATION: A blood donation camp was organised at the ITI outside town on Wednesday. As many as 50 trainees including 19 girls donated blood.

SHIMLA
SPECIAL DRIVE: The Forest Department detected five illegally felled deodar trees in Char Botla forest of Chopal forest division. The officials also recovered 60 scants of converted timber valued at Rs 1,20,000 stacked along the road at Shigaltu. Investigations are on.

STUDENT CENTRE: Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, HP Governor on Thursday laid the foundation stone of a five-storey student centre which will be built at the cost of Rs 92 lakhs in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here. The student centre will provide facilities for recreation and creative activities to the students.

SEMINAR: A three-day seminar on "Himalayas in Sanskrit Literature" organised by the Himachal Pradesh University, concluded here on Thursday. Presiding over the valedictory function, Prof Vishnu Kant Shastri, O.P. Governor, emphasised that Sanskrit was the mother of all Indian languages and had made a special contribution in the development other languages, including Urdu. He appreciated steps taken by the vice-chancellor, Prof S.K. Gupta, to strengthen teaching of and research in Sanskrit in the state.

SOLAN
PROTEST: The Parmar University campus unit of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad organised a rally in front of the Vice-Chancellors office at the main campus of the university at Nauni near here on Thursday. The Parishad has been demanding that forestry graduates of Parmar University be provided suitable job opportunities by reserving certain categories of Forest Department posts for them.