R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
CONVOCATION: The 29th convocation of S.R. Government College for Women, Amritsar, was held on Saturday. Mr R.L. Bhatia, MP, presided over the function. Degrees were conferred on 440 graduates and postgraduates in geography, science, commerce and home science for the session 1997-98. The Principal of the college, Dr Inderjit Vashist, read out the annual report highlighting the achievements of the college in the academic, cultural, sports, and co-curricular activities.

BARNALA
DRIVING LICENCES : The local Rotary Club, under the charge of Mr Rahul Bhandari, SDM, organised a camp for issuing driving licences on the spot at the local Government High School for Boys on Friday. Mr Sampuran Sharma, president of the club, said 772 licences were issued.

FEROZEPORE
RELIEF FOR MIGRANTS: The local administration has sent a truck load of 50 quintals of rice and clothes for those who have been taking shelter at camps in Delhi after migrating from Jammu and Kashmir due to fear of terrorists. The Subdivisional Magistrate, Mr D.P.S. Kharbanda, said the truck was flagged off from here on Friday.

CONDEMNED: The local unit of the Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) held a meeting here on Friday and passed a resolution condemning the killing of 35 Sikhs at Chatti Singhpora village in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Stating this here on Saturday, the joint secretary of the federation, Mr Jaspal Singh, said a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to those killed.

TB PATIENTS: The Department of Health organised a function here on Friday in connection with the World TB Day. The Civil Surgeon, Dr Prem Lata Sood, presided over the function and said voluntary organisations should come forward to help TB patients who could not afford expensive treatment.

LUDHIANA
PEON COMMITS SUICIDE: A peon with Ludhiana Central Cooperative Bank, Sukhjinder Singh, committed suicide by consuming poison on Friday. The deceased reportedly came to the bank after consuming the poison.

PROTEST RALLY: The joint action committee (JAC) of the Management Federation of Private Government-aided Colleges, Principals Federation and teaching and non-teaching staff organised a protest rally at Mini Secretariat on Saturday. The protesters were demanding the early release of 95 per cent grant-in-aid by the state government.

NAWANSHAHR
PROTEST MARCH: Activists of various political, social and religious organisations held a protest march in the town on Saturday to condemn the massacre of 35 Sikhs in the valley. Earlier, the demonstrators held a meeting at Gurdwara Manji Sahib which was addressed by Mr Jatinder Singh Kariha, MLA.

EYE CAMP: the local SS Jain Sabha organised an eye camp here on Saturday. As many as 650 patients were examined and 72 operations performed.

HONOURED: Baba Budh Singh Dhahan, a renowned social worker and founder of the Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Educational Trust, Dhahan Kaleran, was honoured by the Baba Gola Seva Society, Banga, and Sevak Jatha, Kot Fatuhi, at a function held at Guru Nanak Mission Public School, Dhahan Kaleran, on Saturday. Mr Mohan Singh Mann, an NRI and chairman of the society, presented a cheque for Rs 50,000, a shawl and memento to Baba Budh Singh.

PATHANKOT
DECLAMATION CONTEST: A declamation contest on child labour was organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry under the supervision of the local Field Publicity Officer in Kendriya Vidyalaya No 2 on Friday. A number of students participated in the contest. The participants highlighted how bonded labour was a curse against humanity.

TARN TARAN
HONOURED: Dr Manjit Singh Bhoma, President, AISSF (Badal), was honoured here on Saturday at a function organised by the AISSF of the area on being made the Vice-Chairman of the Punjab Khadi Board. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bhoma highlighted various schemes of the Khadi Board for the unemployed rural youth to establish their own business.

SANGAT DARSHAN: Cheques for Rs 4 lakh were given to the sarpanch of gram panchayat, Gohalwar, at a sangat darshan programme organised on Friday at Gohalwar village which was presided over by Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister, Punjab. Mr Ranjit Singh Brahampura, state Cooperation Minister, was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Brahampura disclosed that the state government had earmarked Rs 358 crore during the current financial year for repairing and constructing new link roads.

SOLAR COOKERS: As many as 206 solar cookers and 60 solar lanterns were distributed to residents of nearby villages of Harike under the Eco Development Wildlife Scheme at a function organised on Saturday at the bird sanctuary, Harike, which was presided over by Ms Gurbinder Chahal, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Forest and Wildlife, Punjab. Eleven gram panchayats of the area were given solar street lights on the occasion.

CHANDIGARH

STUDENTS BEGIN FAST: Two students of Government College, Zira, began an indefinite fast in front of the the office of the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University on Sunday, demanding that their college be made an examination centre. Jaspal Singh, Chairman of the College Student Union, and Manjeet Singh demanded reopening of an examination centre for annual university examinations in their college. Jaspal Singh said college students, including girls, had to travel 150 km for the nearest centre at Ferozepore to appear in examinations. The Panjab University Campus Students Council supported the students from Zira.

ANTI-RABIES CAMP: The local chapter of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) organised a free anti-rabies vaccination and deworming camp at Maloya village on Sunday. a total of 69 dogs were vaccinated and 72 others were dewormed. Nineteen other animals were treated for various other ailments. — TNS

HOMAGE PAID: A congregation was held at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Sector 37, at the end of akhand path to pay homage to the Sikhs who were gunned down by militants at Chatti Singhpura village in Anantnag district on Holi night. The congregation demanded the arrest of the remaining culprits and exemplary punishment for them.

EYE OPERATION CAMP : The Parmeshwari Sehgal Memorial Trust, Mani Majra, organised a free eye operation camp at Rajjipur village on Sunday. Fifteen patients were operated upon by Dr R.K. Kathpalia and Dr Sohbat Ghai.

PANCHKULA
SCHEME: The chief Executive of the Haryana Khadi and Village Industries Board, Mr Zile Singh Khobra, said there was a need to adopt the Money Margin Scheme to solve the problem of rural unemployment. He was addressing the two-day third-level workers' workshop, which concluded on Sunday. He observed that Rs 11 crore had been disbursed to 170 beneficiaries during the current financial year and 5,000 persons were employed under the scheme in villages. The Member-Secretary of the board, Mr Raj Mal Kajal, said against a fixed target of 310 cases for the financial year, the board had sponsored 471 cases to various branches of banks in Haryana. He hoped that the figure would double in the next financial year.

SAS NAGAR
DATESHEET: The Punjab School Education Board has revised the datesheet for some subjects of the ongoing Class XII examination. A spokesman of the board said on Sunday that according to the new schedule, the papers of Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, German, French, Russian and chemistry (agriculture and technical groups) would be held on March 30 in the evening session. The papers of education, biology and office management would be held on April 1 and that of political science on April 10.The papers of Gurbani and economics (commerce and agriculture groups) would be held on April 15.

HARYANA

AMBALA
CASE REGISTERED: The HVPN authorities raided a cold storage near Ambala City on Sunday and detected electricity theft worth Rs 7.82 lakh. The police has registered a case against the owner of the milk plant.

WATER SCHEME: Mr Anil Vij, MLA from Ambala Cantonment, said on Sunday that construction work on a canal-based water scheme would be started soon, which had been sanctioned by the State Government. Water would be transported from Jasui Canal, 18 km away, through pipeline and 35 acres had been acquired at Ghasitpur village for the scheme, he added.

FARIDABAD
TWO KILLED: Two persons, including a child, were killed on Saturday in separate accidents in the district. Sanjiv (10), son of Mr Shiv Ram of Sahupura village, was crushed to death by a tractor. In another accident, an unidentified man was run over by a train.

HISAR
CONFERENCE: The Department of Business Economics, Guru Jambeshwar University, organised a conference in collaboration with the Haryana Economic Association on the theme: World Trade Organisation and Indian economy — contribution of Dr Amratya Sen to economic thought and emerging scenario in rural marketing in Haryana. Speaking on the occasion, Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Deputy Chairman, emphasised the need for implementing the theory of Dr Sen. He said Dr Sen had developed his theory with a focus on Indian economy.

JIND
TEACHERS NOT PAID: The teaching staff of the local Chhotu Ram Kisan College have not been paid salaries since December, 1999. Mr Dalbir Singh Kharub, a spokesman of the staff, urged the Haryana Government to give the arrears of the salary to the staff before March 31. He demanded that the arrears of the revised pay scales since January 1,1996, should also be given to the staff at the earliest.

COMPENSATION SOUGHT: Farmers of Kair Kheri, Ahirka, Jhanj and Barodi villages have demanded compensation for the damage caused to their crops due to the recent hailstorm. They said 60 per cent of their wheat crop had been damaged. The affected farmers met Mr Amar Nath, Subdivisional Officer (Civil), Jind, in this regard.

REVENUE PATWARIS: Revenue patwaris and kanungos of the district held a procession here on Friday in protest against the alleged misbehaviour by the Subdivisional Officer (Civil), Narwana, with a patwari last month. The call for the protest was given by the district unit of the Revenue Patwari and Kanungo Association, Jind. The demonstrators raised slogans against the SDO.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

KULU
CHARAS SEIZED: One person was arrested under the NDPS Act here on Friday by the police and 760 gm of charas was seized from him.

SUNDERNAGAR
MAN CRUSHED: One person was killed on the spot at Kanaid village in this subdivision on Friday when a speeding HRTC bus ran over him on National Highway No 21. According to the police, the deceased was identified as Bahadur Singh (50) of Hatgarh. A case has been registered.