R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

AMRITSAR
LIONS CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local Lions Club: district governor — Mr Kuldip Singh; and vice-district governor — Mr Vinod Mahajan.

FATEHGARH SAHIB
AGITATION THREAT: The Punjab Subordinate Services Federation would launch a statewide agitation against the increasing corruption and price rise. Mr Charnjit Singh Walia, president of the federation, said at a press conference here on Thursday. He said 50,000 posts of employees were lying vacant and to get them filled and for the timely promotion of the employees the federation would also launch an agitation.

GARHSHANKAR
CONTAMINATED WATER: People of Paddi Khushi, Majra Dhingrian and Chansu Jattan villages have been drinking contaminated water as the electricity motor which brought water supply to the villages got burnt two months ago. The villagers fear that the contaminated water may lead to an epidemic. They have urged the authorities concerned to look into the matter.

LUDHIANA
ILLICIT LIQUOR: About 60 bottles of country-made liquor were seized by the police from Ishwar Das at Ladowal village near here on Tuesday. However, his accomplice Budh Ram fled. In a separate incident, 33 bottles of country-made liquor were seized from Kulwant Singh of Banker Dogra village. Cases under Section 7 of Excise Act have been registered.

MARKET YARD: A newly constructed market yard was inaugurated by Mr Mall Singh Ghuman, Chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, at Katani Khurd village, 25 km from here. Mr Ghuman said a campaign was launched to check the evasion of market fee and as a result the collection of market fee and rural development fund had registered an increase of 33 per cent.

MOGA
SEPOY KILLED: Jugraj Singh, a Sepoy in the Army, who was on leave, was killed when he was run over by his own tractor which he was driving near Thikriwala village in Sangrur district, according to reports reaching here on Wednesday.

MELA CONCLUDES: A three-day mela held at Marimustafa village in the district in the memory of Baba Sidh concluded on Wednesday. Devotees from all over of the state participated.

PATIALA
FIRST-AID CAMP: The District Red Cross Society and Punjab Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited organised a two-day first-aid camp, which was inaugurated on Thursday by Mr Jai Prakash, General Manager, PCPL. Mr K.R. Verma, District Training Officer of Patiala St John Ambulance, imparted training regarding failure of respiration and heart, bleeding, shock, fractures and poisons.

FREE BOOKS GIVEN: Public Welfare Society distributed free books among students of SD Kumar Sabha Senior Model High School, Mandir Birji, Jaurian Bhattian, on Thursday.

PHAGWARA
DOWRY CASE: The local police has registered a case under Sections 406, 323, 498-A and 506, IPC, against Avtar Singh, husband, Balwant Singh, father-in-law, Gurdial Kaur, mother-in-law and Teena, brother-in-law of Prabhjot Kaur for harassing her for more dowry.

CENSUS STAFF: The subdivision has been divided into 373 blocks for the 2001 census, according to Mr Pritam Singh, SDM-cum-Census Officer. About 373 counting employees, 63 supervisors and four master trainers had been appointed for the job, an official press note said on Thursday. For the rural census work a tehsildar would act as the census officer, added the SDM.

OPEN DARBAR: An open darbar slated to be held at Panshta village on Friday has been postponed, according to SDM Pritam Singh.

CHANDIGARH

EXHIBITION: A wide range of consumer items are on display at the exhibition put up by the All-India Dastkari Hastshilp Hastkargha Society at Lajpat Rai Bhavan, Sector 15-B. According to a press note, the exhibition, which opened on Tuesday, was formally inaugurated by Mr Man Mohan Singh, President of the Tourism Promotion Society of Chandigarh. Leather goods from Calcutta, cane furniture from Assam, Jaipuri suits, metal jewellery from Gujarat, Khurja pottery and Tussar silks are the highlights of the exhibition. The main attractions of the exhibition are the products made of sea shells, according to a press note.

OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Chandigarh unit of the Punjab Irrigation Draftsmen Engineers Association: President — Mr Kulwant Singh; Senior Vice-President — Ms Gurcharan Kaur; Vice-President — Mr Ashok Kumar; Secretary — Mr Hardev Singh; and Cashier — Mr Pawan Kumar.

WORKSHOP: A two-day regional workshop on rural development began at UT Guest House on Wednesday. Organised by the Press Information Bureau, the aim of the workshop is to sensitise the media about the need to highlight various development issues in their writings and programmes. Mr Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Minister for Rural Development, Punjab, inaugurated the workshop. Mr N.R. Kannan, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said the Government had launched the rural infrastructure fund in 1995-96 for the development of infrastructure in rural areas and Rs 18,000 crore had been allocated by the Centre.

PRIVATISATION OF SERVICES: The process for privatisation of certain services in Hotel Shivalikview got into motion on Wednesday with four out of seven consultancy firms making presentations. According to sources, the remaining three firms may also be invited to make presentations. The final selection will be made after shortlisting the firms.

APPEAL: The President and members of the Indian Medical Associations (IMA) has appealed to the general public to donate blood at the camps being organised at the PGI, the Sector 16 General Hospital and the Sector 32 Medical College on April 7. Dr G.S. Kochhar, president of the IMA, Chandigarh unit, said the theme of the day was “Safe Blood starts with me”.

ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 7: President — Mr B.S. Dhaliwal; Senior vice-president — Mr Inderjit Sukhija; Vice-President — Mr Rajesh Mahajan; general secretary — Mr P.S. Gussain; Joint Secretary — Mr S.K. Sharma; finance secretary — Mr K.K. Arora; organising secretary — Mr Satish Rattan; and cultural secretary — Mr Swarn Lata.

MEETINGL: A meeting of the local Shaheed Udham Singh Memorial Bhavan Society held under the Chairmanship of Mr Nanak Chand Kamboj on Wednesday decided that a deputation of the society would meet Mr L.K. Advani, Home Minister, during his visit to the city on Friday. It would appeal for the allotment of a plot at Chandigarh for the establishment of a memorial to Martyr Shaheed Udham Singh as it would be an appropriate tribute to the National Hero during his birth centenary year.

PANCHKULA
SUNDERKAND PATH: Shri Sanatan Dharm Yuvak Sabha will celebrate Ram Navmi on Saturday by holding Sunderkand Path at the ground opposite 74, Sector 10, from 4 pm to 7 pm, in which Sadhvi Manisha will participate.

SAS NAGAR
MINISTER'S VISIT: The Punjab Minister for Education, Mr Tota Singh, visited the Punjab School Education Board office on Wednesday. He instructed the board officials to maintain utmost sanctity, especially in secrecy and conduct branches. He checked the secrecy hall, where answer books were received and despatched for evaluation. He said no new centre should be set up prior to two months of the examinations.

WELFARE CLUB: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Youth Welfare Club: President — Mr Kishore Kumar; Vice-President — Mr Ashok Kumar; General Secretary — Mr Shamsher; Joint Secretary — Mr Karnail Singh.

HARYANA

AMBALA
SHOBHA YATRA: The local unit of the Indian National Lok Dal on Thursday deliberated upon the arrangements to welcome the shobha yatra on the Khalsa Panth tercentenary. At a meeting held under the chairmanship of Mr K.S. Arora, it was decided that a swagat dwar would be set up near Kali Paltan on GT Road and INLD activists would welcome the yatra, a press note said.

FARIDABAD
ARRESTED: The police arrested a labourer on Wednesday on the charge of murdering his wife and three-month-old baby girl. Lakshmi Kant Jha of Sihi village in a fit of rage strangled his wife Rinku (22) and daughter Neha while they were sleeping on Tuesday.

SONEPAT
HALWAIS' DEMAND: The district unit of the Haryana Pradesh Halwai Union has urged the state government to revoke its earlier decision regarding the imposition of sales tax on them. A resolution in this regard was adopted at a meeting of the union held here on Wednesday.

INJURED: Rajesh Sharma, a worker, was injured when he was hit by a truck while welding an iron shed at a local steel factory on the Sonepat-Bahalgarh road on Tuesday. He was taken to the local Civil Hospital and later shifted to the Medical College Hospital in Rohtak.

YAMUNANAGAR
ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Income Tax Counsels Association, jagadhri-Yamunanagar: president — Mr B.R.K. Moudgil; vice-president — Mr Vijay Bhatia; secretary — Mr Harish Luthra; and joint secretary — Mr Rajiv Kumar Gupta.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NURPUR
RESENTMENT: The Himachal Pradesh Ayurvedic Doctors Association at its state-level meeting held at Haripur on Wednesday expressed resentment over the failure of the state government to appoint ayurvedic chikitsa adhikaris (ayurvedic medical officers) even after one year of the interviews conducted by the department concerned.