R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
7 BOOKED: Mr Gurjit Singh,president, Truck Operators Union, his brother, Mr Gaganjit Singh Tinna, a former block president of the Youth Congress, and five others have been booked by the city police in two separate cases for unlawfully impounding tractor-trailers and assaulting the drivers and cleaners of these vehicles.

ARRESTED: Swran Kaur of Malout and Prem Lata of Sadul Shahar have been arrested in connection with the death of Shehnaz (14) allegedly during a medical termination of pregnancy (MTP), a police spokesman said on Thursday. Shehnaz was taken to Swarvn Kaur by her sister Kanta Devi and a neighbour, Prem Lata, for an MTP.

AMRITSAR
BOOK RELEASED: A collection of poems for children titled “Billee Ney Liya Enkah” written by Markas Pal Gumtala was released here on Thursday by play director Kewal Dhaliwal and Mr Jatinder Baggar.

DHURI
LAWYERS STIR: Members of the local Bar association have decided to continue their strike till April 17 in protest against the proposed amendment of the CPC. This was stated by Mr Amarjit Singh, president of the association.

JOURNALISTS UNION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the local unit of the Journalists Union, Punjab: patron - A.R Sharma; chairman - Sat Paul Singla; president — Tarsem Verma; senior vice-president — Sanjiv Seth and Tarsem Sharma; secretary - Deepak; general secretary - Narinder Seth; and treasurer - Sanjiv Jain.

GURDASPUR
BANNED: Mr S.K. Sandhu, District Magistrate, issued orders here on Friday banning the assembly of five or more persons within 230 yards of the examination centre for B.Ed and JBT tests.

HOSHIARPUR
BOOKED: On a complaint of Mr S.K Gupta, Field Vigilance Officer of the State Bank of Patiala, a case has been registered at the Dasuya police station under Sections 465, 467, 471, 420 and 120-B of the IPC against Mr MS Sahni, Branch Manager, Ms Veena Mahajan, Deputy Branch Manager, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, Assistant Branch Manager, Ms Neelam Mahajan, Head Cashier, and Santosh Kumar of the Dasuya branch on the bank. In his complaint, Mr Gupta alleged that Rs 60,000 and Rs 2, 842 had been unauthorisedly withdrawn from account No 4310 of Mr Mohinder Singh of Nihalpur on two different dates due to the negligence of these officers.

SUB-STANDARD FERTILISERS: On a complaint of the Chief Agriculture Officer, Hoshiarpur, a case has been registered at the Garshankar police station against Mr Nand Gopal Soni and Mr RG Shrivastva, Chief Production Officer of the HSB Agro, Garshankar, for selling sub-standard fertilisers to farmers.

PRISONER ASSAULTED: A prisoner, Manjit Singh of Kallwal Fathu, was seriously injured when three prisoners, all brothers, assaulted him in the local jail on Wednesday. A case has been registered.

LUDHIANA
OFFICE-BEARERS: The following have been elected office-bearers of the District Public Works Department and Public Health Ministerial Staff Union: patron — Mr S.S. Walia; president — Mr Surinder Kumar; senior vice-president — Ms Sunita Rani; vice-president — Mr Surinder Sharma; general secretaries — Mr Ranjit Singh and Mr Prithipal Singh.

MEASLES CAMP: A measles camp was organised by the Health and Family Welfare Department, Punjab, at Ambedkar Nagar on Tuesday. About 500 children were given anti-measles injections free of cost. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Surjit Singh, in charge of the camp, said the disease could be controlled with proper vaccination.

MOGA
ELECTED: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Main Bazaar branch of the State Bank of India: Chairman — Mr Mohan Singh; — vice-chairman - Mr Ram Avtar Mittal; secretary-cum-delegate — Mr Pawan Kumar Joshi; assistant secretary — Mr P.D. Gupta; and treasurer — Mr Ashok Gupta.

PATIALA
EYE CAMP: An eye check-up camp was conducted by a team of doctors, headed by Dr Hardev Singh, Assistant Professor, Government Medical College in Thapar Polytechnic here on Friday. The camp was organised by the NSS unit of Thapar Polytechnic. Mr Jasminder Singh, Programme Officer, NSS Thapar Polytechnic, said 150 students (boys and girls) and staff member’s got their eyes checked.

PATHANKOT
SURGEONS’ ASSOCIATION: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Surgeons’ Association, Pathankot: president — Dr A.K. Sharma; vice-president — Dr K.P. Gandotra, secretary — Dr Avnish Kumar; joint secretary — R. Joshi; and treasurer — Dr Navneet Kumar.

PHAGWARA
CASE REGISTERED: On a complaint of Mrs Nirmal Kaur, the police on Wednesday registered a case under Sections 342, 364, 148 and 149 of the IPC against Bhupinder Singh and his four accomplices for kidnapping and wrongfully confining her husband, Mr Gurdev Singh. The police said here on Thursday that the complainant had alleged that her husband was kidnapped by the five suspects on April 3 from Pandori village.

TARN TARAN
TRAINING CAMP: A training camp for farmers on kharif crops was organised on Wednesday at Kallaha village by the Punjab Agriculture Department which was presided over by Dr Kirpal Singh Sandhu, Deputy Director in the department. Dr Mohinder Singh Chahal, Chief Agriculture Officer, was the chief guest. More than 100 farmers participated.

BODY FOUND: The police found a body of a youth from a canal at Pandori Gola village, near here, on Wednesday. A case has been registered.

CHANDIGARH

OLYMPIAD EXAM: Vyom Saini of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Chandigarh, has stood first in the state and national level, 2nd National Science Olympiad Examination, conducted by the Science Olympiad Foundation, New Delhi. Rohit Chodha and Gaurav Kochhar of the same school have stood fifth and seventh, respectively.

CITCO UNION: Members of the CITCO Workers Union have flayed their management’s move to privatise the hotel. Mr Kashmir Chand, President of the union, alleged that the target fixed by the management had increased this year which belies the claim of the management that the hotel was in the red. He said the union would oppose the move.

LAWYERS' FAST: The fast by lawyers at the local district courts complex continued here on Friday with eight more lawyers joining it. Among the lawyers who sat in protest on Friday were Mr A.S Gujral, Vice-President, District Bar Association, Ms Jagdeep Bajwa, Joint Secretary to the association, Mr Dinesh Madra, Mr Swaraj Arora, Mr B.B. Tayal, Mr Subhash Chander, Mr Anil Malhotra and Mr Vijay Goel.

MEDICAL EDUCATION: A day-continuing medical education programme on the theme of trauma is being organised by the Department of General Surgery at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, on Sunday. The chairman of the organising committee, Prof S.P. Kaushik, said the theme has been selected in view of large number of accidents in and around Chandigarh. Nearly 24 experts and senior faculty members from different parts of the country will deliberate on various aspects of trauma, ways and means of management and scope of further improvement.

PROCESSION: The executive body meeting of Shirdi Sai Samaj, temple, Sector 29-A, here has decided to take out the Palki of Shirdi Sai Baba on April 9. The procession will pass through Sectors 29-30, 27, 19, 21, 18, 22, 15, 16, MHC; Panchkula : 28, 32, 37, 38, 30, 55, 42; and Mohali : 44, 45, 46, 61, 47 on the eve of Ram Navmi Utsav.

MEDICAL CAMP: About 300 patients were examined for various ailments and given medicines free of cost at a medical camp organised by the Lion Club Chandigarh Greater at its multi-purpose project building at Karsan. Free X-ray, ECG and blood testing facilities were also provided.

HARYANA

AMBALA
PANCHAYATI LAND: The District Administration has decided to remove all illegal possessions on the panchayati land of the villages by June 30. Thirteen senior officers have been deputed for this work. The officers will have magisterial powers. The Block Development and Panchayat Officers will identifies the illegal possession in their area and from April 21 the removal of such possession will be started.

POSTER COMPETITION: A poster and slogan competition was organised on the occasion of the World Health Day here on Friday. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mohinder Kumar, awarded prizes to the winners. On this occasion, the Civil Surgeon, Dr R.K. Patnaik, gave information about blood banks. He said blood donation is the most noble job. Dr B.K. Jain and Dr Umesh Lamba also spoke on the occasion.

SONEPAT
GROUP CLASH: Firing in the air took place during a clash between two rival groups in the Model Town area here on Thursday. Mr Hardeep Singh Doon, DSP, and other police officials arrived on the spot immediately and seized the revolver used in the clash. An election-related quarrel is stated to be the main reason of the clash.

POLICE ‘INACTION’: Resentment prevails among the parents of Karan Singh (14) against the Railway Police for its ‘inaction’ and the non-registration of an FIR against two policemen who had allegedly pushed him out of a coach of a moving train near the Rajlu Garhi railway station here on April 4. The boy had lost both his legs in the incident. The parents alleged that Railway Police officials were trying to hush up the case by terming it as an accident.

RAPE ALLEGED: Rajbala of Purkhas village, 20 km from here, on Thursday lodged an FIR with the Ganaur police alleging that her 14-year-old daughter was raped by a youth in her house, on Thursday. According to the police, the woman had lodged a similar FIR about six months ago but the case was withdrawn after a compromise between the parties concerned.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHAN
SIRMOURI DRESS: In a press note issued here on Thursday, Mr Jeet S Kathware, general secretary, Hati Samiti, Sirmour, appealed to all heads of schools situated in the trans-Giri area of the district to introduce traditional Sirmouri (Hati) dress in their schools. He thanked the Headmaster and staff of Government High School Haripur Dhar for taking the lead in introducing the dress.

WATER SOURCES: As many as 89 water sources in Sirmour district have been provided with roofs at a cost of Rs 13 lakh to provide potable water in rural areas. This was disclosed by Mr Rakesh Kaushal, Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, here on Thursday while presiding over a meeting of officers to discuss measures for the prevention of water-borne diseases. He urged people to use chlorine tablets in water as a precautionary measure.